


Dark before the dawn

by Onxy_Black



Series: Red and Black [1]
Category: Splatoon
Genre: Gen, I tend to ramble, Octo Expansion DLC, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Probably going be longer than I stated, Squidbeak Splatoon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-01
Updated: 2019-08-11
Packaged: 2020-06-02 03:03:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 23
Words: 30,156
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19432603
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Onxy_Black/pseuds/Onxy_Black
Summary: He had always supported the captain and the rest of new Squidbeak splatoon from the shadows. But now with the captain and agent 3 gone to investigate 'Kamabo', DJ Octavio's escape and Callie's disappearance, it may well be time for him to make more prominent moves in the light.With the NSS effectively drawn and quartered, it seems that he would have quite a lot on his plate. Great. First things first though, they desperately needed a new agent.---Original character. Will try to follow Splatoon 2 Hero mode canon (though I may deviate abit :P) with Octo expansion mentioned in passing.Edit: Chapters with violence will have notes stating they are so at the beginning. There's only 2.This work is COMPLETED. ( The last chapter is a character bio)Thank you for all the support.





	1. Of dead ends and new paths

**Author's Note:**

> Hello world! So if your reading this thanks for checking it out! This is kinda my first fic, I more or less have the storyline skeleton planned out (so its not like I don't have a end goal), just need to have the actual chapters by chapters written out.
> 
> I would like to thank my sister for helping with Beta reading, English is my first language, but I'm not the best at it lol. Do bear with me. Well welp, lets begin.
> 
> \---
> 
> Italics represent thoughts.  
> \--- represent change in location, POV, or time passing

The 5 stages of grief: Denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. The figure estimated he was roughly smack at the start of stage one. “How could this happen?” the figure mused yet again. _Some intelligence agent he was. He of all people should be better than this. Not again. No._ Red eyes stared back at his reflection from the tiny head height mirror in the bunkroom. An octoling female stared back, red pupils framed by a rather typical octoling face and features. Save that between her eyes, a black mask, much like those of inklings who dwelled on the surface. The octoling in the reflection frowned and sighed. _This was supposed to be my last day here_ _. And yet, still here she (he?) was due to what happened._ He remembered the transmission he received just a week ago from Craig. “Me and agent 3 are heading off to investigate the corporation known as Kamabo based on the information you gave. Pull out of your current mission and follow us at a distance. Agents 1 and 2 will hold down the fort while we are gone -Captain Cuttlefish “.

_Right. He was supposed to pull out of his cover today. Except for 1 problem. The 1 problem._ _Agent 1 of the new Squidbeak splatoon (NSS) had disappeared. And along with that was the escape of DJ Octavio, and the theft of the great Zapfish. Again._ The figure mused in thought. It wasn’t as though he was without leads on where Callie was. If anything, he had to keep his beak from dropping the other day when their ‘esteemed leader’ returned with the very agent in question in tow. Except that agent 1 of the NSS wasn’t in binds or restrained in anyway. If anything else, to any casual bystander -- not that there would be any -- she was moving of her own accord. But he knew better, the seemingly rather innocent sunglasses Callie wore were anything but. Sure, they were pretty ‘fresh’ as inklings would put it, but their real selling point, so to speak, was that they would make use of lights to make the wearer more suspectable to suggestion, and instill a strong sense of loyalty in the wearer. _Not much different from what the other octolings were wearing daily but definitely of a much higher level._ With that fact, he had more or less pieced together what had happened, he may not have all the information, yet, but he wasn’t a dumb squid. Anything but, he was Agent 0 of the NSS, information specialist. Though admittedly he didn’t feel much like a specialist now with events of much unknown unfolding around him.

He had originally infiltrated octorian society after DJ Octavio’s initial defeat at the hands of Agent 3, taking advantage of the confusion to ease himself into the society and fill the shoes of one captain Creta. Sure, said captain might not have even existed prior, but with widespread confusion within the octorians, especially those that had attended DJ Octavio’s so called ‘concert’, ending up hearing the calamari inkantation, he had had no issue slipping in and creating a persona for himself. Of cause, it helped that he was quite the hacker himself, and soon Captain Creta was taking charge of octorian society. Once secure in his (her?) new position, Agent 0 had began digging up on octorians in general for information gathering. After all, he and Craig reckoned that the more you knew about your enemy, the better. It was during this time that he (she? Damn, 0 really had a bit of an identity crisis at this stage) had found out about Kamabo. Apparently, DJ Octavio had some ties with this corporation, though much of it was still wrapped in mystery. _Weird. Octorians had every fact listed down. They were logical, systemical like that_ _._ The mystery of this ‘Kamabo’ had piqued 0’s interest, and once he had gathered all he could find about them, he sent it to Craig for analysis and further investigation. Which brought 0 back to the present. Callie was brainwashed, and DJ Octavio had escaped, again, with the great zapfish captured, _again_. He was beginning to see a pattern here which would end in DJ Octavio’s defeat, again. _Hopefully._ The octoling in the reflection bit her lip, deep in thought. _First things first, the captain and 3 has to be informed of what had transpired._ Though, looking at the time, 0 quickly realized he would have to do that later.

Captain Certa, for her ‘service and loyalty’ whilst Octavio was not around, was to be promoted to lead a squad of elite octolings, reporting to DJ Octavio himself. The ceremony was taking place in 10 minutes, which meant 0 had to get ready, fast. It wouldn’t do to have the ‘glorious’ leader wait, after all. 0 slipped on his (her?) gear, finishing off with the octo googles, meant to ‘brainwash’ him, though he had ensured the lights had been disabled so they did anything but. The googles served only to cover his eyes, hiding his inkling features form view. The octoling reflection looked complete now, and after a final once over, Captain Creta stepped out of her bunkroom.

\---

The ceremony had taken forever. Though he couldn’t say there was no gain from it. Captain Creta now lead a crack team of elites tasked with the mission of protecting, aka babysitting, the newest addition to their ranks, Callie. _This was both good and bad;_ the NSS agent thought as he slipped through the base and into pipes and pathways that he charted would lead him to the surface. _The good part was that he was pretty much going to be close to Callie 24/7. The bad part was that he was pretty much going to be close to DJ Octavio and 3 elite octolings 24/7._ Such escapades, which he was doing now, were going to be much harder in the future. Though he had to get to the surface once more. The information had to be sent to captain cuttlefish, he couldn’t do so underground, too easy to get intercepted. That and with Callie gone, agent 2 was going to have a hard time holding down the fort herself. 0 knew Marie, she was a capable inkling with a good head on her shoulders, though the opposite – that Marie, or anyone in NSS other than the captain knowing about him wasn’t true. 0 sighed, he had meant to properly introduce himself to the rest of the team once this mission was over, but now _, now it would have to wait_. Though, at least while on the surface, he could help get a new agent to assist agent 2.

_Ah,_ he was here. His destination, a series of pipes and sewers that, with careful navigation, would lead him to the surface, fairly close to Inkopolis square. Tugging off various pieces of armor and attire, and donning clothes he had stashed away under some rocks, the octoling now resembled an inkling. Short black tentacles framed his rather youthful, rather feminine face, the only similar features from his octoling counterpart being his red eyes. Quickly changed to inkling attire, and after hiding the octorian’s attire under some outcropping, gave himself a once over. 0 did a final check for followers before shifting to his squid form and jumping into the pipes.

Destination, Inkopolis. Objective, information sending, and hopefully, a new agent. Agent 4.  



	2. Of sadness and fresh starts

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Italics represent thought  
> \--- represent change in location, POV, or time passing

She quit. Her TV programs, interviews, private singing performances, cameos… Everything. She quit. And so, agent 2 of the NSS sat in cuttlefish cabin. Alone. Gramps and agent 3 were out, off to investigate some ‘Kamabo’ that the captain had somehow heard about. And Callie, _oh Cod no_. She didn’t want to start again. But her mind just kept going back to her fellow agent, her cousin, her friend. Gone. After the last splatfest the Squid sisters spilt, each moving on to their own ventures. Sure, it was rather sad and lonely, but it wasn’t like they couldn’t meet. At least every 2 weeks or so the agents would gather in cuttlefish cabin to hang out, catch up with life. Those little moments now each seemed like a spike stabbing her hearts. _That time they went for a karaoke session in disguise._ _STAB._ _Singing a duet._ _STAB._ _Callie’s voice, her smile._ _STAB._ _‘Stay Fresh!’_ _STAB. STAB. STAB._ She was crying again. Dammit all. The other issues loomed over her, DJ Octavio’s escape, the great Zapfish… dammit. But they were solvable, that’s right, as long as they could work together, they could fix it! Why don’t they just ---

“Cal..” Marie caught herself, she was slipping. _Callie was go—she was –Dammit all._ Some part of herself wanted to curl up and pretend it was all a dream, a nightmare from which she would wake. She closed her eyes, counted to ten and opened them to reality. The same old cuttlefish cabin. Walking outside, the broken glass snowglobe which housed DJ Octavio. Marie drew a shaky breath. She caught sight of herself in the reflection of the broken glass. A broken puffy eyed inkling who had definitely seen better days stared back at her. This wasn’t her, no. She was Marie Cuttlefish, (former) Squid sister. She was popular! She had fans! She was agent 2 of the New SquIDBEAK SPLATOON!! Somewhere along the line she found herself screaming out loud instead of inside her head. _Oops._ Not that there was anyone around to hear her. _But still._

“Get a grip, agent 2. Get a grip, Cal…. she may be gone but you can get her back. Go kick the octorians collective butts and demand they hand back Callie.” That’s right. It was fine. She could do this. Or rather, Agent 2 could do this. That was, until Marie realized that she was going to need to get someone to do said kicking for her. “Not like I can just leave the base unguarded…” Well. Time for a new agent.

Though. Perhaps she should fix herself up first.

\---

“Captain cuttlefish. Unable to follow you and 3 due to octorian situation back home. Currently investigating. Please proceed with caution. - Agent 0”. A beep signified the sending of the message to the captain’s communication device. Agent 0 sighed. He didn’t mention Callie. Not that he wanted to keep information from Craig but, Callie and Marie were both treasured granddaughters of the captain, and 0 didn’t want to cause unnecessary complications and worry for the captain. Especially now that he couldn’t be supporting him and agent 3 from the shadows. He had contemplated advising the captain to call off the investigation, but, something about Kamabo just nagged at him. There was something about that which rubbed him the wrong way. Call it a hunch, gut feeling, but 0 decided to have the investigation continue nonetheless. Besides, agent 3 was there too. 3, agent 3 was one of the best fighters 0 had seen, singlehandedly defeating DJ Octavio 2 years back. He remembered watching from the shadows, ready to catch cuttlefish if he dropped, ready to intervene. But there was no need, agent 3 precisely and systemically tore the DJ and his toy apart. Sure, the Octobot King was full of flaws, and the Squid sisters were there too, but still, _impressive_.

Agent 0 pushed his memories back. Now was not the time to dwell on the past, it was one of action. And speaking of action, 0’s eyes were drawn to the action broadcasted on the giant screen. It was a ranked (?) mode battle being televised. _Splat zones._ 0’s mind supplied, _the goal of holding the middle zone for a set amount of time to win._ 0 found his glaze following one particular inkling, short pink tentacles swaying as she wielded dualies and splatted yet another enemy. _Impressive._ The girl had the most splats of all the players thus far, and had never gotten splatted herself. Though that may well change. The girl’s team currently held the splat zone, though the enemy team were making a last desperate push to retake the zone. Specials were deployed, an inkstorm and tentra missles meant the dominant team were forced to give up control or risk being splatted. But no, the girl made some hand signals and her team nodded in understanding, _clearly_ , 0 mused, _she wore the pants around the house._ The girl’s team stayed within the splat zone jumping in and out, taking turns to take damage but ensuring the turf remained inked nonetheless. The girl, on the other hand, dashed forward, quickly dispatching the most forward enemy, who had no doubt thought they would abandon the zone, with her dualies. 0 watched, impressed as the girl took on the 3 remaining enemies, dodge rolling to escape a charger, splatting another enemy, leaping back to avoid the roller—she was splatted in the end, but in that moment she had singlehandedly taken on 4 rank S+ players at once, and splatted 2 of them. By the time she was splatted herself, it was too late for the enemy, her team who had stayed behind had continually inked and secured the splat zone. Time ran out and the whistle blew. The girl’s team had won. _Still, calling her that girl was a tad rude_ , 0 briefed through the team information to find… _ah, Shelly. That was her name._ 0 smiled, it seemed like he had found the next potential agent. Now, how to get her to agent 2, who 0 presumed would be looking for a new agent as well.

Speak of the devilfish. As 0’s gaze fell upon the grate that would lead to the outpost and cuttlefish cabin, he saw Marie standing near said grate. Marie was dressed in a kimono and held a brella (?) over her shoulder. At this distance 0 couldn’t tell if it was a normal umbrella or a splat brella. _…_ Given it was Marie there was high chances it was the latter. _Still_ , 0 mentally thought, _how would Marie expect anysquid to notice her like that, much less recruit an agent with suitable skills._ 0 spied the gir…. _Shelly_ , in her base colour of bright yellow freckled with dark brown, appear from the ranked lobby, waving to her teammates and splitting ways. _Perfect._ Except that that gi… _SHELLY_ was headed in the wrong direction from Marie, she was headed towards himself. _Well_ , agent 0 smiled, slipping into the crowds effortlessly, _time to rectify that._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Right, so I had this chapter for quite a while now, and ended up not able to resist posting before the week was up. (I lasted a mighty whole 2 days). Welp, then again I guess as a new author I really should try to post more often?  
> If anyone is reading this please do take a minute to leave some feedback, it would be greatly appreciated.  
> Thankssss, stay fresh!


	3. Of accidents and recruitment

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> An Announcement! I'm looking for 1 or 2 beta readers. I have my sister, huge props to her, to help check my English and grammar. But she doesn't know a thing about Splatoon, so I'm looking for someone to help read my chapters to check for plot elements, general pacing of the story and so on. If anyone's interested, please click the link below to join the telegram group I created. Telegram doesn't show phone numbers, in case you're worrying. Also, while I'm aware I don't exactly have alot of readers to being with, but I would like someone's whose truly dedicated to help, not just to read chapters in advance. Sorry if I sound too condensing.  
> Telegram link here: https://t.me/joinchat/AAAAAEeAvSkrWvpdYfkcJA
> 
> Well then, lets begin.  
> \---  
> Italics represent thoughts  
> \--- represent change in location, POV, or time passing

Shelly was happy. _No._ that hardly described it. _She was … woomy!_ She pulled of yet another insane stunt, _4 ranked S+ at once? Now that was something. Certainly. Heh._ She was the freshest squid of the town! With moves like hers, soon she would be the talk of town! _Heh. That’s right! Who’s the best? Shelly’s the best!_ So engrossed was she in her cheering for herself that she didn’t see the inkling in front of her till it was too late. With a crash, she slammed into the inkling, unbalancing him, and with a squeal, he kind of flopped over and kissed the ground. Shelly, being waaaay more acrobatic, didn’t quite meet the same fate, instead allowing the force of the impact to twirl her around and correcting herself. _Heh, go me!_ she silently cheered and did a little air punch and kick, except said kick connected with the poor inkling still on the ground, resulting in a shocked gasp and groaning.

_Well carp. That wasn’t good._ She looked like she was purposely attacking the poor dude. _Not cool. Like at all._ “Erm, sorry about that, my bad” she crouched down to where the inkling was grabbing his, _ah_ , crotch area, _AH_ , it seems her kick may have connected where it really shouldn’t have _. Oops. Now she felt reeeal bad._ Shelly kinda half propped up the poor boy and helped him to one of Crusty Sean’s benches. Setting her companion down, she took a seat opposite of him and gave him a quick once over. The boy had short deep blue tentacles that darkened at the edges framing a rather youthful, albeit scrunched in pain, face. The kid was wearing some, _totally not so fresh outfits_ , Shelly quickly decided. _Heck, what was he even wearing, that didn’t seem like anything in the shop at all?_ A black coat of sorts with a flaring collar buttoned at his waist with asymmetrical red stripes running along one side of the outfit. _Maybe it was kinda fresh after all_ , but it looked like it hasn’t been washed for months. Shelly made a mental note to wash off immediately once she reached home. _She was a clean squid. Yes sir she was._ Ah, the boy seemed better now, might as well strike a conversation.

“So, about just now, really sorry about that dude. Can I get ya anything from Crusty Sean?” the boy didn’t respond to her country slang, that was a first. _Huh._ “N-not at all. I should have b-been looking where I was going as well. I-if you will excuse me-e…” the boy visibly winced as he stood shakily to his feet, heading off towards Deca tower. Shelly was having none of that. _No sir no._ Shelly had been brought up good by her folks now, and while she may portray herself as a self-centred egotistically cool kid, she was anything but. In this case she was honor bound to help this poor kid to his destination at least. Quickly standing up herself, Shelly helped steady the boy and together they made their way to Deca tower. She swore she saw the ghost of a smile, red eyes gleaming with satisfaction on his face, but on a second glance it was gone, replaced once again by the shaky slightly pained face. _Huh. Must have been the light._

They were nearly at their destination when the boy stopped, gesturing vaguely to Shelly’s left. Shelly looked, wondering what exactly caught his attention when she saw her. Quietly standing in the corner peeking out at passerbys. Dressed in … _what was she dressed in even? With an umbrella? of sorts._ A passing thought told her she seen this particular inkling before but couldn’t quite pin a name or face to her. _Huh. What did the boy want with… wait what?_ The boy was gone. Shelly whirled around but, nope. _Gone. How?_ His arm was around her just seconds before, and now he vanished without a trace. Shelly was getting reaaaly bad vibes here. _Like seriously? What the squid? How can somesquid just disappear like that?_ Shelly wasn’t really into the occult, but this, this was unnerving. _A tad._ Shelly felt eyes on her, and she turned to see the inkling from before looking quizzically at her. _Ah, perhaps she had seen where the boy had disappeared to._ Making her way towards the inkling, Shelly made a small wave but before she could get a sentence out the inkling met her eyes, turned and disappeared down a grate.

_Great. It seems people love to disappear on her today._ Shelly half entertained the thought of just going home, but that look on the inkling, her eyes as they met. _Help. The inkling was calling for help._ Shelly sighed, she really shouldn’t be doing this, like, at all. _Following strangers into weird places, really girl?_ But still she found herself at the grate. _Well._ Rolling her eyes, she shifted and jumped into the grate, only realising mid-shift that she totally should have informed her teammates at least to come looking for her if anything goes wrong. _Great. Just great._

\---

0 watched as Shelly entered the grate. He did feel a twinge of guilt for what he pulled, poor girl was probably scared squidless. _Well_ , at least he confirmed that she was quite honorable and had a decent personality. _Still, vanishing on her like that wasn’t nice_ , he hoped she wasn’t the religious type. 0 was glad it worked out in the end, it was a rather sketchy attempt at best. He sighed, he really needed to improve his acting, then again, he wasn’t quite expecting to be kicked in the crotch. Not that it mattered, the injuries weren’t serious to begin with, he was simply exaggerating. Either way, the objective was accomplished. Now that Shelly was well on her way to the cuttlefish cabin, it would be all up to agent 2 to recruit her. He didn’t doubt 2’s skill, after all, she had learnt from the captain himself, who had recruited agent 3 similarly. A quiet alarm buzzed under his coat. _Time’s up._ 0 turned and began his journey back to the pipes where he first emerged. Time to return to Octo canyon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I've ended up craving into temptation and posted just 2 days after I last did. again. I'm starting to see a pattern here.   
> With every character I try to change up the writing style to suit said character, we got 0, Marie and now 4! heh. honestly 4 is sooo close to how I usually type. Well as always, I would love to hear any feedback regarding the chapter or the work thus far. I really appreciate any comments, and would definitely reply of every comment. Unless its just senseless ranting. I hope not.  
> Until next time, Stay Fresh!


	4. Of inklings and octolings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Italics represent thoughts  
> \--- represent change in location, POV or time passing

A headache, again. She would get them whenever she tried to think too much into things. Callie rubbed her temples, _better not then_. _Deep breathes._ In, out. In, out. There, she’s good now. Though all the thinking got her hungry, _again._ She quietly wrestled down the thought that she had just eaten 10 minutes ago—Cod that pudding was delicious—and reasoned that, well— _nevermind._ _She was hungry, again._ “Excuse me, could I have … anotherpuddingplease?” she rambled out the last part, stamping out the guilt that came with it. She quickly came to learn that the octorians attending to her treated her like a literal princess and would fulfil her every whim, at the order of DJ Octavio himself. Nice dude, truly, whoever who was willing to have her fed with pudding repeatedly had to be a nice dude. “At once, madam” the octorian attendant excused herself.

Right, so back to the situation. She really shouldn’t be, but Callie couldn’t stop thinking about the situation. _She was… an agent?_ And in her memories, she fought against _… octorians?..._ but, then how did that explain her current situation? No, she felt like the octorians were on her side, and she needed to fight against _…the agents?_ _Whoever they were?_ “Urg…” Callie rubbed her temples again; another headache was building. She really should stop thinking. Stop thinking and just … follow orders. That’s right, just follow the orders of DJ Octavio, he was on her side. _Was he?_ Callie remembered performing alongside _... someone else_ years back, and the DJ was there. But _somehow, he was … the enemy?_ The door opened and the octorian attendant entered, Callie’s thoughts immediately ceased, her attention snapping to the Oh-so-good-and-wonderful pudding now placed in front of her. _YES._ Pudding was justice, she could get behind that.

\---

Callie was on her 3rd pudding when DJ Octavio entered. The attendant immediately bowed at her waist, with the DJ waving her off, dismissing her from the room. Callie stood, nervously eyeing the half-finished pudding. She knew he was some bigshot among the octorians, so she felt that she ought to show some respect at least … The DJ slithered onto the couch before seeing Callie nervously standing at attention. “Oh no, my dear, you need not. Please, seat.” He rumbled in his deep voice. Seeing Callie take a seat, but still eyeing the half-finished pudding, the DJ gestured “Please, no need to feel so uptight with me. It’s just me and you here. The others follow formality, but you need not. No, you are special.” The DJ’s eyes gleamed, almost sinisterly, before snapping back to a more neutral look. Taking a few experimental mouthfuls of pudding, and seeing no objection or disapproval, Callie proceed to finish up the rest of it and set it to the side, wiping her mouth with the napkins provided.

“So… Lord Octa…” Callie began. “Please, just DJ or DJ Octavio” he corrected. “Right, so DJ, what brings you here today?” Callie tried to sound neutral. It seems the DJ truly didn’t want her to treat him any special, she could dig that. Humility was a point in his favour. She only met the DJ yesterday, and it’s been quite a few points in his favour. _The nice room she had been put in. The cool fresh shades. The attendants. The princess treatment. The pudding. Oh Cod the pudding, absolutely. Well, the tattoo part sucked, cause it was painful. But still it was a show of loyalty to the octorians. Give and take, after all._ “So, my dear” Octavio began, interrupting her thoughts “I’m here to introduce your own personal splatoon, who would be in charge of protecting you.” Seeing Callie mouth ‘protecting’ in confusion, the DJ continued “You see, those pesky agents would soon come to try and take away our Zapfish, and you along with it. As such, I would be personally guarding Zapfish, and this splatoon would protect you.” As the DJ finished, the door opened once more and 4 elite octolings walked in, saluted the DJ before going into an at ease position.

“Capt –ah forgive me—Commander Creta and her splatoon will be … taking care of you” the DJ gestured, and the commander, presumably, stepped forward. “Miss Callie, we are pleased to meet you, at your disposal” the elite ended with her hand over her chest and dropped in a courtly bow. Callie nodded. Right. Her own personal splatoon… _She was in a splatoon._ _With… others… her friends_ , they had fun together, hung out in between missions. _Thr…three. There was a person named three? And two? No, no two, Mar---_ Tears dripped out from under her shades, leaving wet trails along her cheeks. _Why?_ She wondered, _why was she sad? What could explain---_ “Urg…” _headache again, dammit._ She was vaguely aware of the DJ rumbling his concern, and a hand rubbing along her back. _Mmm._ It was calming, _familiar_ \--- long ago someone had done the same for her, rubbing her back in the same patterns and calming her down. Callie opened her eyes to see the commander elite crouched over and rubbing her back, somehow, despite the octoling googles that the commander wore, Callie felt herself looking into her eyes and feeling a sense of peace. The commander, for whatever weird reason, gave off the same vibe as _those … friends,_ from her memories. She smiled, and felt tired, oh so tired. The weight of overthinking and the conflicting information bore down on her as she drifted off to sleep. “Peace now, Callie.” The last part barely more than a whisper, meant only for her to hear as she slipped away from consciousness.

\---

0 slowly picked up Callie’s unconscious, resting figure and moved her to the bed, laying her down. “You certainly are way more independent than I expected…” Octavio allowed the statement/question trail off, hanging in the air like a guillotine poised over 0’s neck. 0 turned and bowed “My apologies if I had overstepped, Sire. I believe I acted in your best interests in mind given the situation.” Nothing yet. No disapproval, or approval either. 0 kept his voice calm and level, continuing “Over the years while I assumed temporarily command, I certainly may have picked up more … personality as you put it. But my allegiance is to you, DJ Octavio.” Silence, before the DJ rumbled his approval, nodding in understanding. “Very well. Good move on your end, Commander, you may proceed.” With that he turned and slithered out of the room.

0 straightened, ensuring that his expression remained the same even as he, metaphorically, heaved a sigh of relief. He had earned the continued trust of the DJ for now. Though he had to be careful that he didn’t lose it. “DJ Octavio approves of this” 0 stated, more of a statement than anything else, directed at the 3 members of his team. “Agreed, commander, Madam.” They responded. _Short and simple, yet completely truthful due to the brainwashing effects of the googles_ , were the replies of his team. Position among his new team cemented for now, he signalled for them to take up defensive positions around the room. The octoshot and blaster were to guard the door from the outside, while the charger was to find a suitable nest and double as a scout for anyone approaching. 0 remained in the room himself, and once certain that he and the sleeping Callie were alone, proceeded to begin combing the room for electronical bugs and cameras, taking care not to seem too suspicious.

Taking a moment to glance at Callie’s sleeping figure, his eyes fell on the new octo tattoo on her waist. _Red permanent ink seemingly mocking 0 as it lay imprinted on Callie’s still raw, tender skin. The burning flesh as the tattoo took its shape. Callie’s muffled screams as she endured the pain just hours ago, convincing herself that this was a show of loyalty to those that took care of her._ 0 had watched on throughout the procedure, keeping an emotionless mask on. But now, _now_ his façade threatened to break. He quelled the surge of anger within himself, contemplating just grabbing her and escaping. He could, _theoretically._ But it was too much of a risk, and even if he escaped, it would mean his cover blown, and DJ Octavio still at large, except now NSS would have no source of information on the octorians at all. 0 drew a breath to calm himself. _Patience, now_ , he lectured himself. _Patience._ The time would come, _soon._ Until then, he had to trust in agent 2, and _hopefully by now_ , agent 4.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoa! Its nearly a week since I began this fic. So i obviously didn't adhere to my once, or even twice a week of posting. Right, but like, I just had all these chapters built up and want to post them yeaaa. I do hope you readers are enjoying the ride so far?  
> I added some more chapters to the total chapter count, but it may increase yet again (subject to change). Also additional character tags have been, and will be added as the fic progress.  
> As always, would appreciate feedback on the fic, truly I appreciate every kudos and all the more precious comments. I would reply to every comment. Unless it's a reply to my reply. Even then so. Well hahaha.  
> Until next time, Stay Fresh!


	5. Of downs and progress

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome back! With this chapter, I think I'm officially going to start posting every 2 days, the schedule is working out quite nicely for me. So ya! More often updates.  
> Also I'm still looking for somesquid to help beta read future chapters, see chapter 3 for more details. Thanksss.  
> Also also, if you have read this fic till here thus far, thanks a ton! I wouldn't know you, but you make my day!  
> SO! I think I established I'm reaaaly bad at this kind of stuff, I'll try keep it to a minimum. Lets begin.
> 
> \---
> 
> Italics represent thought  
> \--- represent change in location, POV or time passing

Night never came in the octorian domes. The artificial Sun was projected high at noon around the clock. Instead, every soldier was given a specific shift to be active in, roughly 12 hours a day, with the remaining time dubbed as ‘downtime’. During ‘downtime’ octorians were allowed to do whatever they wanted, though the primary option was more often than not more biological than anything—to sleep. Remaining time was given to the octorians to spend as they saw fit, or rather as fit as allowed in octorian society. After taking on the assignment of protecting Callie, commander Creta had found herself with even less time than normal, required to be near her charge pretty much 24/7. Which made it even harder to squeeze out time to set up her private, encrypted network used to keep in contact with the captain. While not secure enough to be trusted with sending out messages—that would warrant a trip to the surface before doing so—the network functioned well enough to receive messages to her communicator. Once an opportunity presented itself, in the form of one of Callie’s afternoon naps (after having one pudding too many) the agent in disguise activated the network via a series of commands from his communicator. The actual mainframe that ran the network had been built to piggyback on existing octorian and inkling communication spikes, making it all the more harder to trace. Once fully booted up, 0’s communicator beeped, once. A single message from captain cuttlefish, dated 2 days ago. Skimming though the text, 0 grimaced _, it was in code._ The captain would only send in code if he had deemed the environment unknown enough. That didn’t bode well with him.

“Otc sit’n @ v’y. ERROR. -3. Otc | F’w |. Oct > !8.” _Apparently, the captain and agent 3 had encountered an octorian along the way, from octo valley. Agent 3 probably fought on the orders of the captain,_ 0’s mind supplemented as he deciphered the code. Though the next part were … _confusing_ to say the least. ‘ERROR. -3.’ _The fight had been … interrupted? And three was down for the count?_ 0 mused in thought, he found it hard to believe agent 3 had lost to a single octorian. The next parts were simple to understand but made little sense to 0. ‘Oct | F’w |. Oct >!8’ _The captain had followed the octorian down underground. And … the octorian was agent 8? What?_ Not that 0 was specist, but he found it hard to believe an octorian, who had fought against 3, was now recruited as an agent. Still processing the message, 0 sent a series of commands via his communicator. Fiddling around with the communicator, he accessed the multiple electronical trips he had stashed across the valley. The trips were simple devices, tripping when a certain condition was met. 0 had set them to trip when the presence of fresh ink was detected, and the octorians who patrolled the valley had no need to shoot fresh ink unless _… ah._ The signals of the trip devices stated that in the past 2 days there has been fresh ink in the first 2 zones of octo canyon. _It seems_ , 0 thought, _that there’s an unwelcome … visitor in the canyon that warranted a fight_. Well, at least not everything was looking down, 0 was fairly concerned for the captain, but chose to trust in his judgement regarding this … agent 8. On his end, things were finally looking better, the agents had begun moving, soon they would be reaching HQ where 0 and Callie were. Shutting of the network and the communicator, commander Creta smiled. _Now then_ , she sarcastically thought, _who could this unwelcome visitor be now?_

\---

Agent 4 rushed the octorians, expertly dodging the burst of ink fired by the octoshots. There were 3 of them, but it was no issue for 4, as she skilfully weaved between the enemy shots, firing her own Heroshot in quick bursts. _2 enemies left,_ she lobbed a splat bomb, it missed, but served the purpose of forcing the remaining 2 octorians together, dead in sights for her Heroshot. _And then there were none_ , 4 mentally quipped as she watched the 2 octorian _souls (?)_ fly off. They may be her enemy, but 4 didn’t want to be a wanton murderer, _at least they were heading off to respawn._ Checking her surroundings for more enemies, 4 found none, just the little zapfish squealing in its bubble _. Easy peasy_. 4 hadn’t found a single level that gave any sort of real challenge, even the bosses didn’t pose much of a challenge, a giant toaster, and a giant overweight dude on a unicycle, _really? Heh. Who’s the best? Four’s the best!_ “Nice job there, agent 4. Grab the zapfish and let’s wrap up” a voice quipped in her head. It was agent 2, who had been acting as 4’s support from afar. “Sure thing! Just a sec, gonna burst this lil’ guy out real quick.” Shooting at the bubble until it broke, agent 4 walked up and grabbed the mini zapfish, earning a squeal of happiness from the creature. _Oh Cod it was cute._

“Great! Now be sure to get out before things get too dark in there. I’ll see you back at the outpost.” “Sure, see ya” 4 replied automatically, but found her mind straying. The instant she unplugged the mini zapfish, the lights had started to dim, machinery sound slowed and ceased as the power disappeared. 4 hurriedly made her way back to spawn and out of the kettle, she wasn’t too fond of dark, silent places—not after that incident with the disappearing boy. Agent 2 hadn’t seen anyone with her back at the square, and reasoned the boy probably was a simple pickpocket who failed to relieve 4 of her wallet. And as much as Marie’s explanation had made sense, there was still something rather foreboding about being stuck in the dark. Making her way out of the kettle, 4 mused on what it must be like for the octorians. With what she had just done, this area of the canyon would join many more to be plagued with darkness and silence, hardly habitable, but the octorians would be forced to stay nonetheless. Sure, she knew the zapfishes originally belonged to the inklings in the first place, but … she could see why the octorians would be so desperate to steal the zapfish. Without power, they were dying mentally and physiologically, ever so slowly. 4 thought about her lifestyle on the surface, never needing to worry about power shortage, _simple stuff like charging her squidphone, watching the television, ranked, even music … they were all dependant on power._

_Then again_ , she reminded herself, _the octorians were also responsible for squidnapping Callie._ Thinking back to her first meeting with Marie, she had not known who she or the Squid sisters were but could tell that Marie had more than just defeating the octorians in mind when she recruited her as agent 4. Shelly had booted up her laptop the moment she reached home that day and researched the heck out of the Squid sisters. Unleashing the power of the internet, she read through the Squid sisters rise to fame, learnt they were actually cousins, not sisters, and so much more. _Callie. Marie. The last splatfest. The disbanding of the Squid sisters. Callie’s disappearance._ So that was it, then. Marie wanted to search for her cousin as well. Shelly could dig that. She was from the countryside herself—hence why she never really heard about the Squid sisters—moving to Inkopolis only a few months prior. Leaving her home to come to the city had been a big step. _Family, friends, relationships, memories, people, places …_ were all left behind. Time to time Shelly found herself thinking back and feeling just a tad lonely, how she missed the interactions back home, and wide pastures, dirt roads, close knit community … In this way she could relate to Marie, that of simply wanting her cousin, and no doubt friend back.

Shelly exited the kettle and superjumped back to the cabin, being greeted by Marie on her return. A soft smile and half lidded eyes welcomed her back. Eyes that once were filled with loss and hopelessness when they first met now had a faint glimmer, a spark behind them. 4 waved in greeting, _she would do it_ , she decided, _she would get Marie to hope again._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Battle at last! This is my first time writing a battle scene, (then again this is my first time writing, so pretty much everything is a new for me) but nonetheless, how is it?
> 
> *Silence*
> 
> \---
> 
> HAHA but like seriously, i really love getting comments or kudos, like for reaals people. I start and end the day by checking for comments or kudos! (I'm totally not an attention freak, I just want some honest feedback. Totally not. Ok? lol) I will definitely reply every comment (be it good or bad, constructive criticism pleease, I'm a young innocent shy child here). And there we have it! I would also love to make some friends here! Since I'm new to A03 as well.  
> But like, enough ranting on my end. Until next time, Stay Fresh!


	6. Off the Hook

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Italics represent thought  
> \--- represent change in location, POV or time passing

Agent 0 found the next week to be rather uneventful. It seemed that the general octorian society had learnt about agent 4, or at least an intruder making progress into the canyon. But still, it seemed nothing much had changed, it appeared that—however sad that it was—the octorians were more or less resigned to their fate, with the same events happening just 2 years ago at the hands of agent 3. That or their brainwashing didn’t allow much in the way of panic or freedom of action. _Probably the latter._ 0 didn’t know the full extent of the brainwashing googles, how they felt to the wearer, and had no intention to find out whatsoever.

0 had found time to activate the private network 3 days after he last did, receiving his second update from the captain: “8 t’t*t’t. Clt thangs \\. oO OtH.” _Agent 8 was doing multiple tests. Collecting ‘thangs’ to go up (reach the surface). And that 0 was to research on Off the Hook. Huh._ 0 had no idea why there would be a need to research on the musical duo _, again_. _Pearl, Inkling, heiress to Baron Houzuki, not suspicious. Marina, Octoling, former octorian technician, wasabi supply unit, not suspicious._ 0 had originally looked into Off the Hook when he noticed that one half that made up the duo was an Octoling, concluding in the end that neither Pearl nor Marina were a threat. 0 gritted his beak, he was in no position to do any sort of research, it was too risky, and the captain had to know that, meaning … 0 had spent the next few days testing the waters (figurately) on how much he could have an online presence via his encrypted network.

And finally, today was the day. 11 days after the entire situation had begun the downward spiral. Callie was off doing some sort of rehearsal with the DJ, apparently a remix of ‘bomb rush blush’ and commander Creta and her team had been given the entire day as ‘downtime’. There was no better chance than this, _screw sleep_ , 0 thought, _he wasn’t going to let this opportunity slip by_. So now, holed up in the bunkroom, 0 checked for the umpteenth time that everything was secure and ready, before activating the network and diving into the realm of code and binary.

\---

01010011 01100101 01110010 01101001 01101111 01110101 01110011 01101100 01111001 00111111 00100000 01011001 01101111 01110101 01110010 00100000 01110100 01110010 01100001 01101110 01110011 01101100 01100001 01110100 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01110100 01101000 01101001 01110011 00111111

\---

<W01100101 01100010master>142 154 141 143 153 has joined the ch01100001 01110100room

<ERROR>

MC_Princess > WHAT THE SHIT

MC_Princess > theres some weird numbers showing up on my phone. A heck load of numbers.

DJ_Hyperfresh > Erm, give me a second here.

DJ_Hyperfresh > I’ll try sort this out, maybe it’s some kind of glitch…

MC_Princess > 1

MC_Princess > 0

MC_Princess > TIMES UP!!!! You owe me unch!

MC_Princess > Lunch*

DJ_Hyperfresh > Wait, I never agreed to that!

MC_Princess > BAhahaHAHA! No skimming out now loSER! Love ya reena

DJ_Hyperfresh > Oh Pearlie … though seriously, I need to fix this first.

00110000 > Marina.

MC_Princess > WOAH THERE! WHO R YOU CHUM??!?

00110000 > @DJ_Hyperfesh you are Marina Ida, yes?

MC_Princess kicked 00110000 from the room.

<ERROR>

<Web 01101101 01100001ster>142 154 141 143 153 has joined the chatr01101111 01101111m

<ERROR>

00110000 > I take it you are Pearl? @MC_Princess.

00110000 > I assure you, I mean no harm. If anything, I am quite in need of your help now. Both of you.

MC_Princess kicked 00110000 from the room.

<ERROR>

<Webmas01110100 01100101>142 154 141 143 153 has joined the 01100011 01101000atroom

<ERROR>

MC_Princess kicked 00110000 from the room.

<ERROR>

<W01100101 01100010master>142 154 141 143 153 has joined the ch01100001 01110100room

<ERROR>

MC_Princess kicked 00110000 from the room.

<ERROR>

<We01100010 01101101aster>142 154 141 143 153 has joined the c01101000atroo01101101

<ERROR>

00110000 > 8

MC_Princess kicked 00110000 from the room.

<ERROR>

<W01100101bmaster>142 154 141 143 153 has joined the cha01110100r01101111om

<ERROR>

00110000 > 8

00110000 > Agent 8.

DJ_Hyperfresh > Pearl, please stop.

MC_Princess > BUT

DJ_Hyperfresh > @<USER_NOT_FOUND>. So, let’s hear your story.

DJ_Hyperfresh > Huh. I can’t tag you.

DJ_Hyperfresh > Pearlie please.

MC_Princess > FINE.

00110000 > Thank you Marina.

DJ_Hyperfresh > State your name and purpose. And how did you access this chat.

00110000 > My apologies for barging in unintroduced. I am agent 0 of the New squidbeak splatoon.

00110000 > I believe you are in contact with captain Cuttlefish. He can confirm my identity.

MC_Princess > OH YOULL BE SURE WE LL CHEC

MC_Princess > CHECK*

DJ_Hyperfresh > Right, so agent 0, I’m taking your word for now. What are you here about? And you mentioned agent 8 beforehand? What was that about?

00110000 > I’m here at the request of captain cuttlefish. I mentioned agent 8 in hopes of catching your attention. To have Pearl stop kicking me from the room.

DJ_Hyperfresh > Oh. Right. Sorry about that.

DJ_Hyperfresh > What about the captain?

00110000 > My information regarding the captain is that he left approximately 11 days ago for Kamabo. Communication with him is currently complicated. I’m deep in Octo canyon.

00110000 > The captain specifically instructed me to come into contact with you, Off the Hook. Hence why I’m here risking my cover. I assumed you had information regarding the situation, and given you know of agent 8 I can conclude my assumptions are correct, yes?

DJ_Hyperfresh > …

DJ_Hyperfesh > Yes, we have been in contact with captain Cuttlefish and agent 8 for the past few days.

DJ_Hyperfresh > So to briefly summarize the situation ---

\---

The next few hours passed quietly as the trio—mostly Marina and agent 0—exchanged information with Pearl quipping in time to time. By the end of their chat, 0 had more or less caught up with the situation in Kamabo. Agent 8 is an octorian who had lost her memories and is currently travelling the ‘deep sea metro’ with the captain, clearing ‘tests’ at every station. Every ‘test’ rewarded 8 with a small memory, or ‘mem cake’ as Marina put it, and some stations had no tests, instead containing ‘thangs’. These ‘thangs’ were believed to help bring 8 and the captain to the ‘promised land’, assumed to be the surface. 8 had collected 1 thang so far. Also, it appeared Kamabo had links to octorians after all, given that they had an army of ‘sanitized’ octorians at their disposal. 0 was still processing the information when another beep indicated a new message sent into the chat.

DJ_Hyperfresh > @<USER_NOT_FOUND>. You said you are deep in octo canyon right. You may want to turn off your network now.

DJ_Hyperfresh > LIKE, RIGHT NOW. I’m accessing your signal and picked up a whole lot of extra signals. Someone, or rather a lot of someones have found you. Cut the network off before they trance it to your physical location.

DJ_Hyperfresh > I will work on a better more secure way of contacting you. I will contact you first, till then I advise keeping the network off.

00110000 > Acknowledged.

MC_Princess kicked 00110000 from the room.

MC_Princess > and… SCORE! Dude wont be coming back now! I WIN

DJ_Hyperfresh > Oh Pearlie … don’t ever change.

MC_Princess > YOU bET!

MC_Princess > .

MC_Princess > ..

MC_Princess > …

MC_Princess > You still owe me lunch btw

\---

45696768742069732062657374206769726c2e202a696e73657274732022416e64207468617427732061206661637422206d656d652a

\---

0 cursed. He’d been distracted and allowed the moment to take hold of him. He had forgotten that every moment spent online meant potential discovery. From what Marina said, it seems whoever found him online hadn’t traced it to its physical source, but it wouldn’t take long. Time was ticking, and sooner or later 0 knew he would be found out. _He hoped it was later._ His fingers worked expertly at the communicator, _there was no choice_ , he couldn’t take any chances. 0 hesitated for a moment before pressing the button that would send a killcode to the network. The killcode would ensure every aspect of digital data stored on the mainframe to be erased, but it wouldn’t stop there. No, the killcode would target 0’s communicator as well, wiping all conversations and data on the device, before ultimately turning on itself and wiping itself and its source out. 0 grimaced, he would have no way of accessing the outside world now, _heck,_ he couldn’t even access his electronical trips to track agent 4’s progress anymore.

Sitting in the relative dark and silence of the bunkroom, 0 found himself inching into sleep. He was exhausted, and with really nothing much left to do, he reckoned that getting some shut eye would be the best course of action. Checking the time gave him about 7 hours before commander Creta was due for her check in. _Plenty of time._ 0 settled down into a meditative pose, clearing his mind as he allowed his body to rest while his mind began to categorize and process the information learnt. A rather useful skill, and while not as beneficial to his body as a proper sleep would, this would allow 0 to last through the next 3-4 days at least. Closing his eyes, his breathing slowed as he entered a meditative state. He allowed his consciousness to slip and entered what he referred to as his ‘mindscape’, where he could access and process the information learnt in the past few hours. _Now, time to start from the beginning …_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had a ton of fun writing this chapter. Pearl and Marina are just so precious! And Pearl's well, hahaha, just so fun to write! I know theres some dont exactly like her, and I respect that, I'm just the type to actually like all the idols (Callie, Marie, Pearl, Marina) equally the same with no real preference, so ya!  
> \---  
> Right! So there's a reference to one of my favorite books of all time: Artemis Fowl here. Any fellow AF fans here? give a shout! 0's character is kinda based on Artemis, with a nice reference in the last paragraph. btw, Atremis Fowl belongs fully to Eoin Colfer. I claim no rights whatsoever. Just putting this here cause.
> 
> So! All the binary and weird numbers are translatable! Hint: Text to binary converter exist... though not all of them are binary! I threw in hex and octo (heh) as well! If you do end up translating, well, erm, kudos to you! And take it with a grain of salt ya. Its a joke.  
> Well then, till next time! Stay Fr-- *Cough* ERM *COUGH*  
> I mean  
> Don't get cooked, Stay Off the Hook!


	7. Of inklings and octolings (redux)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Italics represent thought  
> \--- represent change in location, POV or time passing

_Enough was enough._ Pearl watched as Marina spent every minute for the past 2 days working. Daily news and song writing had put them with about an hour and a half on weekdays and half the weekend free. Supporting agent 8 with her tests had them losing one hour on weekdays and the majority of their weekend time. After the conversation with ‘Agent 0’, Marina had immediately started working on a reliable and secure way of contacting him again. How Marina even found time was a mystery to her. _She suspected cutting of sleep._ Pearl had poked fun at Marina back then, that she was finally showing interest in a guy. _She assumed 0 was a guy._ Except that now, 2 days later, Marina was close to collapsing and it wasn’t funny anymore. Just earlier today Pearl had caught her co-host sleeping while on-air for a radio Q&A, she had let her be, taking the questions and filling in Marina’s parts. That was until she started snoring and Pearl was forced to wake her or risk her snores— _however cute they may be_ —being transmitted over radio to anysquid tuning in. Glancing over at Marina now, she was met was a shaky wave and smile. Pearl stared straight at her partner, mouthing that they talk about this later.

Marina gulped. She highly doubted that this was going to be another teasing session. She nodded back at Pearl weakly. _Cod she needed to sleep._ But she couldn’t, everything was riding on her now. With 0 caught on his end, she absolutely needed to get a transmission through to him once again, and no one was best suited to the job of hacking into octorians severs and than her—she had basically coded and designed 90% of the severs in the first place. Besides that, she also needed to help 8 with a particularly tricky test. The poor girl been stuck at ‘Girl power station’ for close to a week now, and finally caved in to have Marina help hack the system and allow her to pass. _Cod, she NEEDED to sleep._ And then there was the haunting thought that 0 had addressed her by her full name that day. _Marina Ida._ She hoped Pearl had forgotten that. _What if Pearl found out she was an octorian? What would happen to Off the Hook? Off the Hook was all she had, she couldn’t lose it. COD, SHE NEEDED TO SLEEP!_ _Ah,_ there was an inkling waving at her through the glass. She had to wave back, _had to smile and wave_. Was she doing it right? Her vision certainly was waving. _Huh? That wasn’t … supposed … to happen … now was it?_ The waving vision stopped, and Marina found herself looking at Pearl. _Except … Pearl was sideways? What? Huh? Gravity … felt … weird, pulling her … sideways instead of … downwards. Why … was thinking …. so hard … ? …_ The last thing Marina heard before her consciousness slipped away was Pearl: “Marina! Re—” Then darkness, and Marina knew no more.

\---

Pearl paced nervously outside the hospital ward, checking every few seconds if the door opened. _Not that it helped_ , but there was nothing she could do but wait. So she paced, and paced, counting the number of steps needed to walk from one end of the waiting area to another. Doubled checked it, triple checked it. Anything to distract herself from the situation. Marina … no, she couldn’t bear to think of losing her _. It probably wasn’t that serious_ , her mind rationalised, but Pearl was having none of that. Marina freaking collapsed on the floor _. Dammit, she saw this coming_ , she should have been better. She should have stopped her when she had the chance. _Now, what if Mar—_ her thoughts were interrupted by the door opening and a nurse stepping out. Pearl sprinted so far that it appeared like she literally teleported from one end of the room to the door, her mouth already shooting rapid fire questions. “What happened? Is Marina alright? Don’t tell me there’s complications please. Can I see her? When can I see her? I can wait, what time does the hosi---” Pearl trailed off, backing off the poor nurse. In the room, sitting propped up by the bed, was Marina, looking right at her. Oh. _OH._

“Miss” the nurse began, picking herself up “Miss Marina has a clean bill of health, but is overworked and tired. I will leave you two be, please press the red button besides the bed if anything comes up.” The nurse gestured to the panel mounted besides the bed before turning to leave. “Ah, and miss, do let miss Marina rest. That is what she needs most of all now” the nurse added as an afterthought before leaving the room. Pearl stood awkwardly, staring at Marina, before taking a seat beside the bed. “So, Reena. You’re overworked.” a simple statement. A fact. Marina nodded silently. Pearl pressed on “I get that this is important to you. Why, I have no idea. I never seen you this desperate before. Not even with Eight.” Another nod, though slower, with a touch of guilt this time. “Reena, whatever your going through, whatever is going through that genius mind of yours, I … I want you to know I can and want to help.” A sob. _What._ Pearl turned to see Marina with tears dripping from her eyes. _Oh shit. SHIT._ Did she go to far? _SHIT._ “Whoa there. Reena, erm, I …” _SHIT. She messed up, now what was she goi—_ Marina shook her head “I’m ... I’m sorr—sorry Pearlie. I … I messed up … I ma—made you worry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry …” Pearl grabbed younger girl in the fierce hug, hushing her. “Its fine, its ok now. There, everything’s going to be ok now. No matter what, I will be by you. … Don’t get cooked” … Marina smiled silently, finishing their catchphrase: “S—Stay off the hook”

Half an hour later, Marina was feeling much better, it felt good to let it all out. _At last._ _And Pearl, she said she would stay by her no matter what._ Marina didn’t quite feel like revealing the whole octorian thing yet, but certainly felt much better, emotionally at least. Physically, well, she really wanted to fall back into sleep. But first, Pearl deserved to know. So she began, explaining everything she been shouldering the past 2 days, leaving out certain details pertaining to her species. It was quite clear Pearl noticed said missing details, after all, having a motivation of ‘Cause I needed to’ was rather sketchy to begin with, but she didn’t mention a thing. Instead, Pearl had been strangely quiet the entire time while Marina explained. At the end, Pearl had looked Marina in her eyes and simply stated: “We are going on break”. Marina opened her beak to protest, how could they when— “Marina. Look at me. You are in no shape to work, me and you, we are a team here, without you there’s no Off the Hook. So, we are going on break till you’re better. I’ll talk to the manager about it.” Pearl was commanding, taking no bullshit whatsoever, and Marina could only meekly nod in reply.

“Now get some rest. I’ll take care of the situation with Eight.” Pearl, now satisfied, took on a gentler voice. “As for agent 0, we can settle that later, yea? Once you’re better you can get back to working on your project.” _Right, sleep. That sounded good._ Marina yawned, she was tired. _So tired._ Pearl smiled, time to let her other half get some well-deserved rest. She watched as Marina’s eyes started closing, before flashing one of her trademark smirks “and once you’re better, when this whole thing is all done with, let’s get that lunch you owe me.” She watched as Marina flashed a weak smile of her own before succumbing to the lures of sleep. Pearl’s smirk faded, and she silently added on what had been weighing on her hearts since the conversation with 0, _and then, and then let’s talk, about one Marina Ida._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My first time writing slice of life with a bit of fluff! What fun! This chapter was meant to be self contained, but I ended up using the whole chapter just for introductions. Opps. Ermmm, so I'll wrap up the Off the Hook mini-arc by next chapter, promise, then we'll be back to the action!  
> So, I went on a bit of a rant last time around, so I won't be doing it here again. I'll control myself. lol. As always, feedback is truly cherished and appreciated. I see a grand total of 7 kudos--soooo I have at least 7 readers that read up to the latest chapter? yes? So... comme-- *geh*  
> Right, totally-in-self-control.  
> As always, Don't get cooked, ... STAY FRESH!!!!! *Laughs in Squid Sisters*
> 
> \---
> 
> ps. Erm, so I kinda like to express myself in these end notes, so like, just take everything with a pinch of salt ya? Please don't feel pressured by this author here in anyway. Just, enjoy the fic however you like, ya? Cheers.


	8. Of Pearl and Marina

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 10 kudos! WOW. Knowing that there 10 people out there that actually enjoy the work certainly brings a smile to my face! Seriously! Tank you~ Thank you so much. *Happy inkling and octoling noises* So here's an early chapter release! Its shorter compared to the rest, and not cause i rushed it, its just cos this chapter was meant to go together with the previous one, but then it would be tooo long. So yea.  
> \---  
> Italics represents thought  
> \--- represent change in location, POV, or time passing.

The next few days had passed fairly normally. Marina was discharged after a good night’s, and day’s, of sleep, mostly back to her normal self. Pearl had talked with their manager, who been rather understanding and gave them the Friday, and the upcoming weekend off. “Though I can only hold off for so long” the older squid had said “be sure to be back by Monday”. Upon reaching Pearl’s mansion for the evening, Marina first order of business had been to call their manager and thank him for his consideration and help. “Certainly, once again thank you … yes … goodbye” Ending the call, Marina sighed, flopping onto the sofa. Pearl joined her, hopping onto the couch before breaking the silence: “So Reena, what on your mind?”

“Nothing much, just that I still need to finish up the communication with 0, I’m almost done anyways. Oh, and I need to help with Eight.” Groaning, Marina got up from her slouching position and had grabbed for her laptop, booting it up and preparing to communicate with Eight. Pearl frowned, she didn’t like what she was seeing. Marina was already going straight back into work mode. As if reading her thoughts, Marina looked up and smiled: “Don’t worry Pearlie, this time I’ll make sure to take care of myself too.” Marina looked on at Pearl for a moment before continuing: “and Pearl, after this is all over. … let’s talk, there’s some … things I would like to tell you.” Pearl returned the smile with one of her own. _Sure. She could wait. She would wait, no matter how long, for Marina. She could deal with that._

\---

Well apparently, they didn’t need that talk anymore. _Not particularly._ They still needed it, but not really. Its been a day since Marina was discharged and she was working in her workshop, a short drive from Pearl’s mansion, where said squid currently was lazing the day away. Pearl and Marina had been chatting with the captain when Marina had texted that she needed a charger for her phone, leaving the chat. Things had gotten boring, and ended up with Pearl digging up, and revealing more than she should have. She read and re-read the file the captain had sent. _‘Marina Ida. Gen 83-Octloing combat engi—_ …’ Pearl couldn’t believe it. She knew Marina was hiding some shit, but this, _this was THE shit to crown all shits._ Not that she was going to let the fact that Marina is an octorian change anything _, not at all._ It was just that Pearl had a hard time believing that Marina, _sweet Marina who wouldn’t hurt a fly,_ would be responsible for creating robotic monstrosities. _Flooders._ As the captain had called them. _Urgh. This was all very confusing._ Pearl hated confusing. Still, one thing was certain _, if anysquid, the captain, or 0 (0 had known about Marina’s full name. Pearl reckoned he was in the loop as well.) had dared to discriminate—or Cod forbid—hurt Marina,_ Pearl would (in her own terms) CUT A SQUID. And she meant it. Pearl’s thoughts were interrupted by the ding on her squidphone. _New messages in the chat._

<Webmaster> DJ_Hyperfresh has joined the chat.

DJ_Hyerfresh > Whew, I’m back. Sorry about that!

_Carp._ Pearl typed a reply. And watched as the conversation turned towards more discussion. _Octorian discussion._

MC_Princess > That’s on me, Marina. I never meant to dig into your past.

DJ_Hyperfresh > Um…

Pearl felt terrible. Marina had no doubt wanted to tell her this herself. At her own timing. And here she was messing things up by digging up Marina’s past, forcing Marina when she wasn’t ready yet. _Again. Dammit._

MC_Princess > See? Everything’s total cool. Kinda

_… No. NO. She had to apologize. No more hiding or brushing stuff under the carpet._

MC_Princess > Sorry… I mean, I always knew you were different, even if we never talked about it. I always figured … you know … with the jokes and stuff…

Pearl felt a tad better now. Had to get it off her chest. _Wait. What was Marina typing now? Not being accepted? Nonono. Marina was … NONONONO. How could she think that …_

MC_Princess > ARE YOU KIDDING? OF course you will! Everyone loves you!

_More so than me_ , Pearl mentally mused. _Ah, mmm. Things seemed to be wrapping up now._ Pearl was glad everything went so smoothly. Marina, while forced to reveal her past, was taking it in stride. _Heh. Pearl was proud to call Marina her partner._ Pearl let out a breath she didn’t realize she was holding. _While not quite the ideal talk she envisioned, this was good enough. Now Marina could concentrate on her stuff without worrying too much abut other issues._ At least she hoped that there weren’t other issues. _No matter. No matter what, she would stay by Marina. Together. They would tackle it together._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And there we have it! The conclusion of Pearl's and Marina's mini arc. How was t? Honestly? I give this chapter a 7/10, just cause i think I forced it a little. But like, I just wanted to finish up Off the Hook's intro without more plot points on them. Well, do let me know what you guys/gals think. Hows the slice of life/Fluff? or would your prefer the story advancing. Either way, next chapter is back to the agents! so ya! this isn't the last we'll see of Pearl and Marina, they'll appear later on again, but for now im going back to the campaign storyline.  
> An update on the fic! I added more chapters (again) and relevant character tags. Ya, I reaaly tend to ramble and type more than i plan to. is that a good thing? I try not to be to long winded now. Do bear with this author. As for actual number of chapters.... lets just say it would definitely reach the number currently given, as for whether it exceeds... I don't know. Ara ara.
> 
> Till next time, Stay Fresh!  
> (no more motto jokes, i think I may have overused them lol)
> 
> jk
> 
> Don't get cooked, Stay off the Hook!


	9. Of action and waiting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Right! So as of last chapter, I got some rather amazing feedback! A big thank you to my Anonymous senpai and benefactor. I'm going to try to change the writing style in terms of pacing and paragraphing, in hopes of having the story flow better. Don't worry, I didn't cut any content, If anything i may have added some to make the flow seem better. So! I'm not sure if this new writing style is any good, or i have utterly butchered the whole thing. So as always, would love to have some feedback on it!
> 
> Right, with that out of the way, lets begin!
> 
> \---
> 
> Italics represent thought.  
> \--- represent change in location, POV or time passing

There hadn’t been any update from Marina since cutting off communication that day. He hadn’t been caught by octarian cyber security yet, _so that was good._ 0 still had no information on the outside world, though he hardly needed it at this stage. Tension was palpable in the air; _one could cut it with a knife._ Agent 4 was closing unto HQ, soon the battle would come to them. Commander Creta and her splatoon were now on the highest alert possible, deployed to the field under the orders of DJ Octavio himself to stop the intruder.

_Which was just as well,_ 0 mused, like this, he could easily escape the notice of the octarian secret police searching for whoever had had unauthorized access online. _Still_. 0 had a bad feeling about the new ‘toy’ entrusted to them for use against the intruder. Just a small black box, that, when activated, produced some sort of field that did _... something. Something about respawners?_ The DJ hadn’t explained what it did, only that they were to deploy this device in the fight against the intruder and splat them within the field generated. _That didn’t sound too good._ All 0 managed to glean about the box was that it was an incomplete prototype from a place named ‘Tartar labs’ and was completed with octarian technology. _At least, that was all he managed to read in the 5 seconds that the data had flashed on screen whilst the DJ had briefed the splatoon about the box._ Glancing at the box again, 0 decided it was definitely nothing good, just being in proximity to it gave him headaches. _Well, if it came down to it,_ 0 thought, _he would do something about it._ Till then, he had to continue acting as the brainwashed, loyal elite octarian commander Creta was.

\---

The Octo shower roared, charging straight at her again. Agent 4 rolled her eyes. It was interesting at first, a challenge to shoot down the 3 octo copters holding the shower up before dashing in to attack the boss, but now, _now it was simply repetitive. Wait for the boss to charge, dodge, splat a copter, wait for the boss to charge…. Rinse and repeat._ At least this was the last phase. _Hopefully._ As the octo shower charged at her, agent 4 released the charge on her hero charger, swiftly inking a path to her right and swimming away to safety. Re-assuming her kid form, she turned and sniped the poor last copter with a blast of ink. The poor octarian never stood a chance, it splatted, dropping the shower with its big, meaty tentacle exposed and vulnerable.

Firing yet another charged shot, 4 inked a path straight ahead, shifting and swimming up to the now rather useless shower, assuming her kid form and shooting the protruding tentacle till it burst. She watched as the boss now began creaking and shaking, eventually exploding in a flood of green ink. _Whew. And another one bites the dust,_ 4 thought as she collected her prize of power eggs and sardinium, before bursting the bubble the zapfish was in and retrieving it _. Just another day at the office. Heh. Once again, the heroic agent 4 saves the day._

“Nice work, agent 4” Marie quipped “come back up, I need to brief you on the next and final area—Cephalon HQ.”

<Bzzt>

<Error>

"RUN! LEAVE NOW AND NEVER LOOK BACK!"

_What? Ah, it was that voice again. The same garbled speech that had appeared multiple times before, after 4 had cleared an area._

“Are… Uh… Are you holding the phone upside down?” 4 heard 2 ask the mysterious voice. 4 listened in on the conversation, mused in thought. Ever since hearing the voice last time around, she had an inkling that she heard it somewhere before. _Though, where had she heard this voice before?_ Somehow the mystery squid (?) was sounding rather familiar.

“Urg… I totally was.”

“CALLIE?!”

2’s response was pretty much the same as 4’s. Except 4 kept her outburst internal instead. _Wouldn’t want to give the enemy information about her, after all. But still, no wonder the voice had sounded so familiar_ , 4 remembered watching a few of the Squid sister’s concerts back when she was doing research on them. They were ... awesome! Their harmony, voices intertwining together as they sang. But it wasn't the Squid sisters ability to sing which bothered 4, they were formidable fighters as well.

_This wasn’t good._ She had found rare footage of the Squid sisters having a match of turf war back in the day, _and their skills were crazy good._ Sure, their teamwork and covering each other backs were almost second nature to them, but 4 had no doubt that even split up, each individual still posed a sizable threat. 4 continued to listen in on Marie and Callie (?) as she pondered in thought. _Could Callie be an enemy? Why?_

_Evaluate your enemy._ 4 had come to learn of battle planning and management from her pro-ranked experience, and she had gathered from Marie that she favoured chargers, and Callie favoured rollers and bomb rushes. 4 didn’t want to fight Callie, but if it came down to it, she would. _Evaluate your enemy._ _Know your enemy. Win._

“I… I can’t believe it. Could Callie really be working with the Octarians? Agent 4, I need your help now more than ever.” Hearing Marie speak her code name snapped 4 out of thought.

“…” Silence. 4 didn’t quite know how to respond. _What side would Marie be on?_ She wondered. 4 sure hoped Marie wouldn’t join the enemy side for the sake of her cousin, _facing them both… would be troublesome._

“You’re not much of a talker, are you? Well you’re still here, so I’m going to keep telling you to do stuff. LET’S GO _!” Well, that cleared things up._ 4 silently released the breath she didn’t realize she was holding. She was glad Marie was still commanding and confident, a far cry from what she been when they first met.

Exiting the boss kettle, 4 sent a burst of static to signal her affirmation, not talking just in case there was still anysquid listening in. As with the previous areas in the canyon, with the defeat of the boss and the recovery of the zapfish, the area’s power dropped, and sparks flew as the electrical shield around the launchpad to the next area dropped. 4 stretched, _she would tackle the next area tomorrow._ She had to return the zapfish first, and her teammates been pestering her for days on what she was caught up in. She couldn’t tell them, though she promised they would get some ranked done later today. She didn’t want to leave Marie and Callie (?) waiting, _admittedly,_ for her own enjoyment _, but she had promised._ _Take it as polishing of skills before the next area_ , she reasoned, as she jumped back to the outpost.

\---

Marie held her tongue as she watched agent 4 prepare to exit the canyon. After the rather shocking revelation about Callie, she had quickly composed herself and greeted the newest agent to NSS with a soft smile and half lidded eyes upon her return to the outpost. She was going to propose they scope out Cephalon HQ in the afternoon, and maybe clear a few stages before calling it a day, when 4 begun stripping off her hero suit. Marie’s beak dropped, before quickly turning and averting her eyes, coughing softly.

“What the big deal, 2? We’re both girls here” 4 quipped. Marie noticed 4 had been chattier in person than on missions. _Concentration on the mission, she could respect that._ Rustling of clothing ceased, and 4 continued: “I’m decent now, btw” before Marie turned to look.

She tried to keep it from showing, _she really did,_ but her face dropped _. Agent 4 was in plain clothes. She intended on returning to_ _Inkopolis_ _square._ Marie couldn’t blame her, 4 had been at the canyon for days now, even sleeping over at the cabin once or twice. The agent no doubt had a life outside of being, well, an agent. _Come to think of it_ , Marie didn’t even know agent 4’s real name. It had never occurred to her, everything had been about the octarians and missions. She sighed internally, _what was she doing? Some senpai she was…_

Waving goodbye to agent 4, her thoughts once again shifted towards Callie. Agent 4 had promised to be back the next day and they would tackle Cephalon HQ then. _Callie, she was there,_ Marie knew it. She just knew it. Her grip on the brella she carried tightened, the ends of her fingers digging into her palm as 4 entered the grate to return to the square. _The next day wasn’t good enough … Callie, Callie was waiting. Now. She needed 4 to jump to Cephalon HQ now. NOW._

Marie stopped herself, she letting the situation get to her. _She was being controlling. Overtly so._ She couldn’t, 4 had a life as well, and forcing her to stay was nothing but selfishness. _Not unlike the octarians stealing the Great Zapfish, for their needs. Their wants._ Marie sighed again. She was doing that a lot lately. _Wait. All she could do now was wait._ Turning to gaze out into octo canyon, Marie pondered in thought as she watched the artificial Sun stay forever high in the sky. Glazing away into the distance … _somewhere … out there was Callie_ , waiting as well.

_"RUN! LEAVE NOW AND NEVER LOOK BACK!"_  
  
---  
  
_Oh Callie. Why?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all, let me say i tried, i really tried to get Callie's speech flipped. But i cant. Or at least i don't know how to. That and I try to keep to Splatoon canon as much as I can, though ... I will eventually deviate.
> 
> This chapter is really the calm before the storm, as we join up with the agents once more. Ya, there some shit coming. Ah, and just to make things clear. There isn't going to be any romantic pairings in this fic ya? There may be hints of, but there never will be any romantic parings. Its just not a fic for that, I may have some more lighthearted oneshots after this is finished. Not sure.
> 
> And, well. I have quite an announcement actually. About future updates. I'm still working things out on my end, so will keep your posted on this in following chapters. Don't worry, me or this fic isn't going anywhere. Just, a heads up that I have a life too, ya? The gist of it? past 25 july I probably am not going to have access to internet for a looong time. So ya. I'll probably explain more in the next or following chapters once i work out a schedule.
> 
> Well welp. I hate to end on a depressing note like that. But... I'm really out of jokes here. cringe or otherwise. I'm dry. No more punchlines from me here. Unless you count ending the chapter and my notes similarly that is.
> 
> Well.
> 
> Until next time, Stay Fresh!


	10. Of teasing and sassing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> An announcement! So, I have added the tag of 'Graphic descriptions of violence'.
> 
> Don't worry, this fic isn't going to turn into some B-Rated horror slasher. It just that I'm not quite sure if the following few chapters require such a tag. 
> 
> Erm. So if the chapter has elements of violence, I would be sure to state at the beginning in these notes as a warning. I don't think it gets really bad (subjective though), but yea. I'm just going to add that tag in.
> 
> Ah, this chapter isn't one of them though.
> 
> With that out of the way, lets begin.
> 
> \---
> 
> Italics represent thought  
> \--- represent change in location, POV or time passing

Shelly made good on her word of showing up the next day. The grate chugged and shook before ejecting her into the canyon. After brief greetings and pleasantries with Marie, Shelly headed to the cabin (at Marie’s insistence) to change into her Hero suit and don her gear. _Marie looked tired_ , Shelly noted as she changed, _probably the stress regarding the whole situation with Callie._

_Well,_ she was here now, and they were going to tackle Cephalon HQ today. Depending on their progress, Shelly might decide to crash at the cabin for the night before heading out tomorrow to complete the area _(she typically took 1-2 days to clear an area)_. Donning the last piece of hero gear, her triangular headphones pulsating with dots of light (Fresh! MEGA FRESH!), agent 4 stepped out of the cabin, ready to do her job. _Time to save the world._ Though, perhaps she should tease Marie a little to get her to lighten up. _No point in starting the day sad and depressed._

Marie watched as agent 4 emerged from the cabin, changed into her hero gear. _Cod, at least she managed to get her into a room to change. Youths these days. They really took the definition of fresh to the next level._ An image of 4 undressing the previous day flashed across her mind, and Marie had to fight to keep herself from blushing.

_What?_ She had no idea where that came from, first of all, she was straight _(at least she thought she was, never having an actual relationship with a guy before)_ , but mostly was sure she didn’t see 4 in that kind of light. _No, it probably was the stress. Yup, probably the stress_. She had hardly slept at all— _hard to do so when it was day 24/7_ —and she had a lot to think about on her mind. It was then she saw the squid in question looking at her, a bemused expression on her face.

“I’m bi, fyi. If you’re considering.” As the implications of 4 statement hit Marie, her blush returned full force once as they sunk in and she started vehemently denying that the thought had crossed her mind. Somewhere along the line she realized that she was being way to emotionally invested and was pretty much admitting to it— _dammit._ And now agent 4 was laughing (no doubt at her expense), clutching at her stomach.

“HA! Good Cod! Yo..your face! … Lighten up there 2!” 4 had collapsed onto the ground in a fit of giggles, while Marie tried to look as dignified as she could. Keyword of tried. _Cod dammit._

\---

A good half an hour later, both agents had more or less composed themselves, and were ready for the day.

Marie would never, _Never,_ say it out loud but she was glad 4 was here. 4 had already help a ton by tackling the canyon. And now, in just an instance she had gotten her to stop worrying about the issues at hand and reduced her to a blubbering, blushing mess. _Ah._ Right, certainly never going to talk about that particular instance.

Agent 4, on the other hand, was stretching before preparing to head off to Cephalon HQ where, presumably, Callie and the bad guys in charge were. 4 had no idea what the octarian HQ was like, and how tough the soldiers there were, but, well, it wasn’t going to be a problem for her. _No sir. She was the best. She was going to kick ass!_ With one final nod to agent 2, 4 shifted and superjumped to Cephalon HQ.

\---

_It was easy. Not teasing-Marie-to-blush levels of easy, but simple enough._ 4 had expected the HQ soldiers to be a cut above the rest, but they felt the same. The only ones that put up a challenge were elite octolings, now they were some challenge, but 4 overcame them nonetheless. 4 was now finishing up the second level of Cephalon HQ.

Turning the corner, she saw the zapfish squealing in its bubble. And a squad of 4 elites standing guard in front of it. 4’s trained eyes quickly picked up on the weapons held by the elites; _an octoshot, a blaster, a charger, and what appeared to be a modified octobrush_. Also, there was some weird black box beside them. The box felt _… wrong_ to agent 4, she couldn’t put a finger on why, but it just felt wrong.

“Be careful 4, there’s something about these elites that seem different” agent 2’s voice drawled in her headgear. Gripping her hero dualies, and staying wary for an ambush, agent 4 approached the 4 motionless elites.

“Good day fellows. I don’t suppose you can allow lil’ old me to pass now?” _Might as well sass, octolings never replied to her anyways._

“We are afraid not, my dear.” The modified octobrush wielder responded, in perfect inkling no less, reaching down to activate the black box. 4 didn’t have time to process her shock at getting an actual response before several things happened, all at once:

First the box hummed to life, and a glowly field surrounded her and the 4 elites.

Secondly, her connection to agent 2 disappeared in a short burst of static.

And thirdly, 4 realized she could no longer feel her ink connected to the spawns.

Theoretically, if she was splatted _(not that she would be)_ she would re-spawn at the latest checkpoint. But as the glowly field passed over her, 4 felt goose-bumps run through her body as her subconscious connection to the checkpoints vanished. _That wasn’t good._ And now, the 4 elites prepared to attack. She couldn’t run, doing so would make her an easy target, she had to fight. _Fight for her survival._

\---

Agent 0 stood with the rest of Creta’s splatoon in front of the zapfish, waiting. Intel had suggested that the intruder would be here shortly. _Intel my foot_ , 0 mused, all they had been doing was standing in the same spot for 3 days now, waiting for the intruder to appear eventually. Holding his modified octobrush lazily over his shoulder— _a pose which he totally didn’t copy from one particular agent 2_ —0 checked for movement in the area, again _. Nothing … huh?_ There was something. The octarians stationed before them were not checking in, and the ink density on the ground had gone up significantly. _At last._

“Stay sharp. Form up” Creta barked at the 3 other elites, each giving their affirmative and shifting into a battle-ready stance. 0 looked down at the box at his feet, _the thing still rubbed him wrong,_ he suspected it was hardly going to be anything good for the intruder. He was going to need to be careful, depending on what the box did. Hearing footsteps around the corner, 0 gripped his modified octobrush, swinging it downwards into a ready stance as well.

Agent 4, decked out in her hero suit and gear, turned the corner, and 0 felt her eyes roaming and picking up details on them.

“Good day fellows. I don’t suppose you can allow lil’ old me to pass now?” she called out. 0’s smile deepened, _ha_ , 4 certainly had humour.

“We are afraid not, my dear.” 0 replied, reaching down to activate the box, hoping it wasn’t just a giant bomb to blow them all to kingdom come. He felt 4’s confusion to his reply as he silently smirked, _well that’s what you get for sassin_ — 0’s thoughts were abruptly cut off as the box activated. He felt it, goosebumps travelling down his spine.

Instantly the pieces clicked into place.

_Dammit Octavio,_ 0 cursed internally. The light field emitted by the box was harmless physically, but it affected the connection between the souls of inklings and octolings alike to respawn points. _So much for being a valued subordinate_ , 0 thought, the DJ was willingly sending him and his team on a suicide mission in hopes of dragging 4 down together. _This didn’t bode well for 4._ 0 could see from her eyes that she got it as well, and as Creta signalled the attack to start, 0 grimly thought: _Well, time for the ultimate test._ He hoped 4 was good enough for it. _He hoped he was good enough for it._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dun Dun DUN!!!
> 
> So the moment that I been waiting for has almost arrived! So yea, that's the reason why the tag been added.  
> Erm... so I don't exactly have, or want to say much this time. This is kinda just a buildup chapter... 
> 
> 'This chapter is really the calm before the storm ...'   
> Erm. Riiiight ..... I said that last time around too, didn't I?  
> Oops?
> 
> But yea, definitely action next chapter. Look forward to it! Or not. Meh.  
> Well, as always, please do leave feedback on the chapter or work as a whole, pacing, content, spelling errors...  
> maybe not the last one.
> 
> Until next time, Stay fresh!


	11. Of painful decisions and meetings at last

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter depicts scenes of battle and violence. Please be warned that certain descriptions may be rather graphic. This author apologizes if it evokes feelings of discomfort or unpleasantness.
> 
> There are no chapter end notes. Since the chapter was split due to length, I would like it to feel as such, with no intermission.
> 
> \---
> 
> Italics represent thought  
> \--- represent change in POV, location, or time passing

Agent 4 moved. She drew upon every bit of skill and speed from her ranked games and moved. She was at a numerical disadvantage, and she had to rectify that. Anysquid, no matter how skilled, couldn’t dodge forever from multiple enemies.

Swinging her dualies downwards, she quickly covered the ground around her with ink, before using them to hold off the 4 elites. But she couldn’t do so indefinitely, and the octobrush slipped through, inking a path of purple through her yellow, allowing the other elites to swim through. 4 fired onto the octobrush, forcing her back, before dodge-rolling to avoid the shots from the blaster. She barely finished her roll when she was forced to shift and dive into her ink to avoid the charger. _That would be an issue._

Swimming away and gaining speed, she jumped and shifted, spinning around and throwing a splat bomb behind her, temporarily splitting the formation of the octorians. Swimming through her ink, she made her way for the charger, predicting and jumping out of the ink at the right moment to dodge the charger shot. Assuming her kid form, she bore down on the charger, now vulnerable at close range. She had seconds before the rest of the octorians re-grouped and came for her. Dodge-rolling to the side, she avoided one last ditch effort from the charger for her life.

_Her life._ Agent 4 found herself looking down the scope of her dualies, the octarian charger dead in sights. Her finger hovered over the trigger, and despite her internal screaming to pull the trigger, she couldn’t. _A life. She was going to take a life._

The moment didn’t last, the octarian elite backed away, and 4 heard the sound of the octobrush swishing through the air.

_Dodge,_ her mind screamed. And dodge she did, but a moment too late; the octobrush slashed against her side, and pain instantly flared from where enemy ink touched her.

Red sparks flew as her shield broke. There wasn’t a single moment of reprieve, however, as 4 was instantly met with the blaster on the left and octoshot on the right. She formed and dropped a splat bomb at her feet, forcing the octobrush to hop away, before swinging her dualies around and firing at the 2 approaching octarians. While they slowed and attempted to dodge the shots, 4 swam right up to them, shifting and spinning mid-air, dualies out to attack once more.

And once more the moment was lost, as 4 found herself unable to pull the triggers and simply fell back into her ink, swimming away.

4 emerged from her ink, taking cover behind some crates. She evaluated her wound as her shield reformed around her; it wasn’t too bad, her hero suit had taken the brunt of the damage to begin with, and the time spent in her own ink had already healed it, more or less. Instead, there was a more glaring issue. _She couldn’t do it._ She watched as the octarians regrouped into formation again and prepared to charge at her once more. _She couldn’t do it. She had chances, opportunities to thin out the enemy, but she couldn’t. She couldn’t pull the trigger. Couldn’t kill._

And for that she had paid the price, a slash for now, but deep down she knew that if she kept this up … _she would pay with her life. Oh soggy squid nuggets, if only this field of light wasn’t here … Wait … the light came from the box, which was just sitting in the corner untouched …_ 4 smiled, the outlines of a plan beginnings to form in her head.

Agent 4 readied herself as the elites dashed towards her again, taking a moment to evaluate her enemies.

_Evaluate your enemy. Know your enemy. Win._

The octoshot was with the blaster on the right this time, with the octobrush on her left. The charger once again sat crouched behind, waiting for an optimal time to fire.

Once again firing around the area, 4 inked the surrounding area before firing and keeping the octarians at bay. Except that this time, instead of being on the defensive, 4 switched forms and jumped forward as the octarians jumped back to avoid her shots. She caught them all off guard and slipped through before they could cut her off.

Jumping out of her ink to dodge the charger, she shifted and fired towards the charger, seemingly doing the same thing again. Behind her, the octobrush swiped at her, flinging ink in a wide arc. 4 hissed as some of the ink landed on her, burning pain shooting through her body from where the purple ink touched her, but still she willed herself to move, generating another splat bomb and throwing it through the purple ink and at the enemy.

Her six-sense tingled and she dodge-rolled to the side to avoid another charger shot. Without a moment to lose, 4 quickly ran towards the charger, but banked sharply to the right at the last minute, avoiding yet another shot.

Taking a moment to glance back, she saw that the blaster hadn’t been caught in her splat bomb and was bearing down on her, but not wanting to stop her momentum, she shot wildly from her hip at the blaster in hopes of slowing her down. _Almost there._ The octobrush and octoshot were back up, and were making for her too, with the brush down to increase her movement speed. _Almost there._ The charger was charging another shot, but was forced to cancel and move due to 4 being out of range. _Almost … here._

The black box hummed right in front of her. She swiftly inked the box, and when nothing seemed to happen, 4 leapt and smashed straight down on it using her hero combat boots. The box crumbled, let out a low whine before shorting out.

The glowly light field flickered and disappeared, and 4 felt her connection to the re-spawners begin to reconnect. _Great._ Then she saw the blaster right behind her, weapon raised and taking am. _Not so great._ Still landing from her jump and unable to correct herself, she took the full brunt of the blaster shot, shield breaking again as the force of the impact drove her to smash against the floor.

_Not good._ She was seeing spots in her vison. She felt herself hauled to her feet before being slammed back down unto the floor, the edge of the blaster shoved into her face. They weren’t splatting her; they were capturing her. _Not good. Really not good._ She was being dragged away when her headset crackled to life: “4! Hang on! I got you!”

_What?_ _The sound of a charger being fired_ ; SPLAT! 4 was dropped and heard the octarians rustle as they moved around her. _The sound of the octobrush swishing through the air._ SPLAT! SPLAT! Wet ink splashed across her, and 4 struggled to clear her vision to see what was going on. Yellow ink coated her body (not doing any damage since she was yellow herself), and 4 caught the tail ends 2 octarians souls flying away. _What?_

The octobrush, tentacles and ink now yellow in colour, turned and grinned down at 4, offering a hand to help her up. 4 ignored the hand, opting to stand shakily herself, gripping her dualies _(only one dualie now, the other must have flown out of her grip somewhere)_ in a wary, ready position. Not that she was in any position to fight, she was barely standing as it was.

“You! Octarian! Back away!” agent 2 shouted in inkling, though the message was rather clear. Her E-liter 3k was charged and aimed straight at the octobrush, painting a dot of red dead center on her chest.

_Agent 2. Right,_ 4’s mind fuzzily supplied, _2 had showed up just now._ Marie must have come to save her once the communications cut off. 4 reckoned that Marie probably splatted the octarian charger in her initial attack, hence her absence. 4 watched warily as the octobrush stepped away from her, a bemused smile ghosting at her lips.

“Now, there’s no need for that. I was just about to leave anyways.” The octobrush informed the 2 agents, once again in perfect inkling. “Take care of your friend now. And I do apologise for just now, it was all rather confusing, and … unpleasant.” Inclining her head slightly to 4, the elite swung her weapon around, causing the agents to flinch, only to snap it against her back. Hand over her chest, she dropped into a courtly bow, before turning and disappearing around the corner.

“Wait! Stop right there!” Marie’s threats were effectively ignored. For one, they were both the same colour, and for two, Marie needed to secure and evaluate agent 4 instead of pursuing the mysterious octorian.

She knew that, _they all knew that._


	12. Of cause and effect

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please be warned that this chapter contains mild violence and mild self harm. The author apologizes for any discomfort caused.
> 
> \---
> 
> Italics represent thought  
> \--- represent change in location, POV, or time passing

Agent 0 slipped away, ignoring the pointless threats from agent 2. She wouldn’t shoot anyways. Once clear that neither agents were following him, he began climbing upwards, to a ledge which would allow for a view of the situation. Looking from the ledge, 0 saw that the agents had recovered the zapfish, and Marie was now helping 4 out of the kettle. With nothing more noteworthy to see, 0 dropped down from his vantage point, and followed the 2 agents at a distance till they exited the kettle.

It was only when the 2 agents disappeared into their ink to exit the kettle did 0 allow his facade to finally drop. Legs buckled out underneath him, and he fell into a kneeling position on the ground, knees scraping across the ground as he did. His knees screamed in pain. He ignored them. _He deserved that. That and so much more._

0 felt bile rising up from the back of his throat, tasting the hint of the bitterness of vomit. 0 bit down on his lip and suppressed the urge to vomit. Fangs drew blood from where he bit down. He ignored that too, opting to look up into the featurelessness dome of the kettle, as warm tears leaked out from under his octarian googles.

 _A failure. An absolute failure._ He pulled off the googles, before looking down at his hands. Hands that had just wielded his octobrush, attacking and hurting agent 4. _What a farce. He was no heroic agent in disguise. He was a monster._ A monster who had been willing to sacrifice an innocent child for the sake of his mission. _He had_ _attacked her, and hurt her. 4’s … Shelly’s blood was on his hands. Just a child caught up in this mess. A mess he brought her into. How could he?_

It would be an utter lie to say he had everything under control, that was hardly the case. He did hold back as best as he could, giving agent 4 opportunities to defeat the other members of Creta’s splatoon. Except she didn’t. And now it was painfully clear as to why. _Agent 4 … no, Shelly was innocent. She had never killed, or taken a life before. (Sure, not all the octarians she splatted actually made it to a functioning respawner, but still.)_ He mentally slapped himself, no, scratch that, he raised his hand and physically slapped himself. He had thought nothing of having 4 kill, of taking the innocence from her, of changing her into a monster like he was.

He knew he shouldn’t be thinking such thoughts, _they only dragged him down. These thoughts were dangerous,_ the rational part of his mind warned, but was drowned out by the guilt and anger. _He needed to let it out. Just for a little now. Just for a little he wasn’t agent 0 of the NSS, he was just a lost child in the dark. A child that had been rejected by society, scorned and tossed aside. A monster._

\---

The lights overhead dimmed by another notch, snapping his attention upwards. Without the zapfish to power them, soon this area would be rather hard to navigate. He didn’t have much time left— _octarian security were by now no doubt en-route here, where he was most likely to still be_ —and he had no desire to play a game of hide-and-seek in the darkness of the kettle. _Though, perhaps he should just let them get him. And kill him for the traitor he was._

“…” _No. He couldn’t._ At the very least, he owed agent 4 an apology.

Picking himself up, once more the person of agent 0 took over. He donned the octarian googles once more to complete his disguise, wiping of the tears and cleaning himself up. _He couldn’t allow himself to stew in this self-pity and misery anymore._ _It wasn’t good psychologically._ Taking a shaky breath, 0 steadied his thoughts. Calm and logic once again filled his mind. He would need a proper meditation session to clear himself of this negatively and guilt, but for now, it would have to do.

He was still deep in octarian territory, and he need to get out of here, fast. 0 closed his eyes, and took another deep breath, fully calming himself from his earlier breakdown.

 _He needed to analyse the situation._ Foremost was the fact that he had effectively blown his cover. The 3 members of Creta’s splatoon would be respawning at base by now, and his absence, not to mention splatting 2 members of his team, would make his betrayal clear soon enough. If it wasn’t already made clear.

 _He needed to leave. As quickly and as discreetly as possible._ There weren’t many options left for 0, security around the HQ was going to be very tight, there wasn’t going to be a way out from there. Sneaking out past HQ security was comparable to trying to put out fire with oil. _Nope._

Of course, he wasn’t completely without options, 0 knew a way to a certain place, where he could crash, and even access the surface from.

 _Except that he wasn’t particularly fond of having to confront the agents again so soon_. _Well, beggars can’t be choosers now, can they? Besides, the sooner he gets this over with, the better._ Turning, 0 made for the exit of the kettle, it would normally be impossible for octorians to leave the kettle they were assigned to, but 0 still had access to special keycodes granted by Octavio for this mission. Exiting the kettle, 0 found himself in Cephalon HQ, with rapidly vaporizing yellow ink footprints heading away from the kettle.

 _Agents 2 and 4._ 0 shifted form, feeling very much like a child about to confess to their mother about breaking her favourite vase. _Except it wasn’t a vase, he may have well broken agent 4._ Grimacing in his squid form, 0 silently hoped that 2 had taken 4 away for treatment, and wasn’t at the outpost standing guard, before superjumping to coordinates only an agent would know. Tentakeel outpost; Cuttlefish cabin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And there it is.
> 
> This, and the previous chapter, was rather dark now, weren't they? And yet I found myself to have such drive, such inspiration and motivation to write them. So much so that they had to be split in half, into 2 chapters.  
> Yea... This author isn't exactly particularity mentally sound. *Hollow laughs*
> 
> But yea, here we go! Next chapter onwards would take a lighter tone, there's going to be some comedy even. like, dark comedy. You know. As dark and as bitter as my soul. *Laughs maniacally* (not really)
> 
> Well, as always, please leave feedback on the chapter, or work, if there's anything you'll want to say. I would really appreciate that, and would try to meet the changes suggested! As best as I can! Yea!
> 
> And an update on the fic. So like, I stated a while back that I'm going to be without internet past 25 July yes? yea, its coming up. Annnnd I'm still trying to figure something out. What I'm aming for is to write finish the fic, prepare them in saved (but not posted) chapters, and post them as needed when the time comes. I'm still experimenting. But yea. 
> 
> Till next time,  
> Stay Fresh!


	13. Of the agents of New Squidbeak Splatoon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Italics represent thought  
> \--- represent change in location, POV or time passing

The area around cuttlefish cabin was eerily quiet, the silence broken by a wet plop as 0 landed from his superjump, standing up and making for the cabin soundlessly. The surroundings seemed desolate enough, _sector clear;_ 0 mused, relaxing, when the door to the cabin opened and Marie—now wearing her kimono once more—walked out. _Not clear, not clear!_ 0’s eyes widened, and he hurriedly jumped behind the cabin, out of sight as he internally grumbled about jinxing himself.

He was still in octarian disguise, meeting Marie now would be quite _… difficult_. 0 stealthily sneaked around the cabin, reaching down and pulling back what appeared to be a rotted piece of wood to reveal a keypad. Dredging through his memories, 0 entered the 17-digit pin before the floor started lowering, right into cuttlefish bunker.

Cuttlefish bunker, originally named forward outpost Delta, was used as a staging area during the Great turf war against the octarians. When he learned of it after the war from the captain, 0 had upgraded the outpost into a full on functioning bunker, high tech security and all. The cabin was then built above it as a residence and to act as a suitable disguise. Only captain Cuttlefish and agent 0 were aware of this place, and though 0 had suggested letting the rest of the agents know as well in case of emergencies, the captain had refused back then, stating he didn’t want his babies (there was only agent 1 and 2 at that stage) to end up fighting a war as well.

Dim lighting illuminated the bunker, as 0 truly allowed himself to relax now. A sliding partition separated the bed from a small desk and chair, with a restroom tucked away in the corner of the room. He would crash here for the night, before heading off to the surface tomorrow when agents 2 and 4 were distracted tackling the rest of Cephalon HQ.

It was then that the smell hit him. Within the relatively small confines of the bunker, 0 began to be aware of how much in need he was of a bath. _Urg._ He hadn’t washed off in 3 days, not to mention the stink of battle was clinging to him. Not good for any sort of stealth, _certainly not._

0 removed the octobrush clasped against his back, allowing it to hit the floor with a clang. Reaching up, 0 then started pulling off the artificial silicon suckers stuck unto his tentacles, allowing his tentacles to reform into that of an inkling.

He was a rare case among inklings, born with the ability to not only shift between different colours, but to physically avert the shape of his tentacles as well. Combined with some props and a suitable disguise, he was able to fool octarians into believing he was one of them. _Still, inkling society … hadn’t taken well to him. A mutant, a monster, they had called him, chasing him out and away._ He had eventually met a younger craig cuttlefish, and from there helped found and support the NSS from the shadows. _After all, he wasn’t suited for surface work. As much as he loafed to admit it, some part of himself was still that of a child. A child who been broken and hurt._ His earlier breakdown was proof of that.

Shaking his head free of past memories, 0 tugged at the belts holding his chest plate in place, allowing it to drop, he didn’t want to reminisce on the past, a past that he rather be forgotten. Perhaps, a story for another day. 0 turned, deciding that he would finish undressing in the shower, and came face to face with one rather amused agent 4.

Silence. Deathly silence reigned in the bunker. 4 was laying in the bed, blocked from 0’s sight as he entered due to the sliding partition.

A low whistle escaped 4’s beak as she appraised the barely clothed squid. _He. Was. Ripped. And not in an overtly done way, able to pass as a female with the right accessories and clothes. Ah, said squid was still staring at her like deer caught in the headlights. Or more like a crossdressing trap caught by his sister. Heh. It’s a trap!_

“Erm… don’t let me interrupt?” 4 broke the silence, grinning sheepishly and snapping her eyes back up. _She wasn’t ogling at all. No sir. Totally not. Ah, wipe the drool, wipe-the-drool._

0 stared straight at her, before sighing and shaking his head. _Today really wasn’t his day._ Then again, it hadn’t been his day even since DJ Octavio showed up with Callie. He really should have done an area check, but he was tired. _Oh so tired._ _At least 4 looked fine._ He looked back up at 4, _there was something he had to do first._

Gesturing to the octobrush on the floor, 0 bowed to the younger agent: “Please forgive me for earlier. I am truly sorry for attacking and hurting you. If I may make it up to you in any way, please, let me know. How are you feeling?”

“Oh! Don’t worry about that. Please, raise you head. Haha, I’m great! Just need a lil’ rest and I’m good to go! … Annnnnd … I’m assuming you’re on our side here, yessss?” 4 drew out her sentence, realizing that she was in the room with a total (albeit half-naked) stranger, and wasn’t armed. _Except this was real life, and not one of those rather sketchy videos 4 just might have tucked away under her bed. Right. Especially the one where an inkling girl was bound and sacrificed to a bare chested, muscular barbarian to have his way with. Riggght. Stop right there._

“I’m agent 0” the squid in question replied, _might as well, he was just so done with secrets._ He smiled slightly; _4 upbeat personality was rather infectious._ “And might I ask how you came to be in this bunker?” 0 continued, feeling alongside the wall before pressing a particular section of it. The wall slid back to unveil a set of gear; 0’s own agent gear.

As with his octobrush, he had heavily modified it, even changing the design and colour to better suit his taste. The finished product kept the armour properties of the gear but looked aesthetically completely different.

“Agent 0. Right. I just learnt of this place myself actually, Mar—agent 2 said it was a secret base of sorts. She and Ca—uh, I mean agent 1 found it after looking through some of their grandfather’s files. What’s his name? Captain Cuttlefresh?” 4 quipped in answer to 0’s earlier query.

“Captain Cuttlefish” 0 absentmindedly corrected, watching as 4 got up from the bed and started pulling the sliding door between her and 0.

“Right. Cuttlefish. So, I’m assuming you’ll like a little privacy? Like, you totally stink, ‘kay? So like, get a bath, please” 4 finished pulling the door, slamming it against the wall before receiving a reply.

 _Right. A bath, he needed a bath._ It was only then 0 realized he been having the entire conversation thus far in a rather compromising state of dress. _Or lack thereof._ _Wonderful first impression_ , 0’s mind sarcastically supplied, _oh wait, or was attempted murder better._ 0 shook his head to clear his thoughts, heading for the bathroom, he really needed to keep his mental state in check, he was so tired. _Oh so tired._

First, a bath. Secondly, he needed to officially introduce himself to agent 2. And have a talk with her on secrets BEING secrets. Then he would sleep.

\---

0 woke up to insistent prodding at the hands of agent 4. “Mar—agent tw—ah screw it, Marie’s coming. Wake up, you’re gonna need to explain yourself.” 0 found himself sprawled on the floor, head leaning against the table. _That wasn’t supposed to happen._ 0 got up and dusted himself off, apparently he had jumped straight to step 3: sleep, after the bath yesterday. _At least he dressed himself this time._ The sound of the ceiling lowering broke 0 out of his thoughts, as Marie entered the bunker.

 _Well, there certainly was going to be explanations,_ 0 mused, _a heck load of it._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh 4. Agent 4, you are a dear. 
> 
> Haha she may have turned out to be kinky-er than I initially expected. but yea. She's just so fun to write.
> 
> BTW a 'Trap' is a term used in Japanese anime culture to describe a male who dresses as a female. Dont ask me how I know that. 
> 
> "Sector clear. Not clear! Not clear!" is a reference to Star Wars Battlefront 2.  
> 'It's a trap!' is a reference to Star Wars: Return of the Jedi. (except its used in a different context here)
> 
> Right, and so we got a bit on 0's backstory as well! I hope its not too awkward? or plot contrived? Since I've been foreshadowing that 0 got some type of shape-shifting abilities since chapter 1. Like how he looked like a typical octoling, then an inkling later on.
> 
> Right, so the design of agent 0 is based off that of a common octopus.  
> The black and red colour scheme is due to octopuses being generally red-ish in colour, and their ink being, well, black. (that and the author love the contrast of red on black)  
> The shape-shifting aspect is from the abilities of octopuses to imitate various textures (such as rocks) in their camouflage. The author reasoned that some evolution resulted in have the ability to actually change the shape of tentacles to imitate other shapes. Though its not a complete copy, which is why 0 needs silicon suckers as props to complete his disguise.  
> As for a full backstory on 0, the author may have a proper separate fic on it. how he discovered his abilities, how he met cuttlefish. for this fic, thats all the backstory you will get, cause I didnt want to spend 2-3 chapters on the backstory tangent and deviate from the plot.  
> You dont need to know all that ^ to keep reading. Its just some fun facts on how I came up with 0's physical design. the character went through several changes already, actually (this is probably version 3?). maybe I'll state the original plan for 0 in future chapters? probably the end, where I'll have a bunch of fun facts and 'bloopers' to share.
> 
> But yea.... sorry for the wall of text.
> 
> Edit: an update in the fic! This would probably be the last time I can do this, as I'm going to be very very busy soon.  
> As of 23rd July, this author has finished writing the entire fic, totalling at 22 chapters. The chapters would all be saved as drafts, and (hopefully) posted on schedule.  
> Also, the author may have gone on a bit of a writing spree ( again) and accidentally turned my epilogue into an additional 5 ish chapters... So now it's going to be a separate fic. Haha. A seque of sorts.  
> So it takes places after the events in this fic, so I can't quite post it yet, but it no longer follows agent 0. And no, it isn't 0's backstory.  
> Soooo yea! We are still kinda a while from that. But I hope your will continue reading! Look forward to it! 
> 
> As always, feedback is appreciated, and loved. 
> 
> Until next time,  
> Stay Fresh!


	14. Of the agents of New Squidbeak Splatoon II

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Italics represent thought  
> \--- represent change in location, POV, or time passing

Marie stood and stretched, the bunk in the cabin was good enough for a night’s rest, though not the most comfortable. She preferred the one in the bunker below her, though now agent 4 was occupying it, _and with good reason,_ she admonished herself, _4 was hurt._

In some weird way, she was glad gramps wasn’t around, technically she shouldn’t know of the existence of the bunker, she and Call … _Callie_ had discovered it by accident while playing tag around the cabin one day. Callie had tripped, pulling away the false wood covering the keypad in the process. From there on, they had spent weeks trying to decipher the 17-pin code, writing down the combinations tried on their squidphones. The jackpot was eventually struck with the 17-pin digits sounding like an instrumental version of the chorus of their hit song: Calamari Inkantation.

Gramps had caught them, then, revealing he had known what they had been trying to do, and stated they were free to explore the bunker, but it was only to be used in absolute emergencies. Marie reckoned that the situation with 4 was an emergency enough.

_That and ‘cos she didn’t want to be left without a place to sleep. (Sharing the bed with 4 was an absolute no. Not after before.) Less on that._

_Though,_ Marie guiltily thought, _she and Callie had sneaked into the bunker have slumber parties more than once. Well, at least gramps didn’t know about that._ Or so she hoped.

And now Marie made her way to the back of the cabin, she was going to check on 4. _Hopefully 4 was ready for some action today._

Keying in the code, the melody produced by the number keys sounded in her ears, and a sad smile crossed her face; _the Calamari Inkantation—the song which blew the Squid sisters to popularity._ She remembered singing, dancing besides Callie all those years ago, wishing now she could go back and experience it again for just a second. _But now it was gone. Callie was gone._

Marie squashed the depressing thoughts before they took hold of her again, as the floor began to lower her into the bunker.

 _Huh?_ Other than 4, there was another inkling in the bunker.

Instantly going into a combat ready stance, she pointed her brella at the intruder, and Marie found herself wishing she went with an actual splat brella, instead of the cheap prop lookalike she found. _Wouldn’t hurt to try bluff though._

Just as she was about to question the mysterious inkling, she found herself noticing … similar, _familiar_ features on the inkling.

The inkling was … male (?), short black tentacles framing a feminine face and red amused eyes that stared straight at her, unwavering. He (?) wore a black vest coat with asymmetrical red stripes that looped around, and on closer inspection, she found it to be a heavily modified and re-coloured version of the hero suit. _Double huh?_

Agent 4 was there too, seemingly unharmed, sitting on the edge of the bed. Her attention went back to the inkling, she seen him before, where had she …

“Zer—” Marie snapped her beak shut. _So that’s why he seemed familiar_ , she and Callie had peeked at their grandfather’s collection of files once, where she seen his face. _Agent 0 of the New Squidbeak Splatoon. Top secret. Confidential_. She prayed he didn’t catch her slip up. Though, looking at the inkling’s face, he most certainly did. _Cod dammit._

“Agent 2. Pleased to meet your acquaintance at last. Though it seems that I require no introduction?” The inkling arced an eyebrow at Marie, continuing “Nonetheless, I am Agent 0 of the New Squidbeak Splatoon, intelligence specialist. I have worked besides captain Cuttlefish for many years now and have supported the splatoon from the shadows all this time.” The inkling paused, eyes flickering up to meet hers. Guilt and shame now twinged in those red pupils as the inkling continued in a smaller voice: “though, that doesn’t seem like much when we look at the situation now, does it? Callie’s gone. Forgive me.”

The inkling ended with a deep bow to Marie.

Silence once again reigned in the room, as Marie processed the information. _Sure, she knew of agent 0’s existence, though wasn’t entirely sure as to his role in the splatoon, and why gramps had kept his existence hidden. Now it made sense, as an intelligence operative, 0 would need to remain isolated from the rest of the team to best accomplish his role. Though,_ perhaps there wasn't a need to keep him as hidden as he had been...

Marie heard 4 cough softly, bringing her attention back to the moment, and saw that 0 remained bowed.

“Ah! Zer—Agent 0! Please, get up. Its fine, we all mess up time to time, right? Besides, now 4’s here to help, and we’re close to getting Callie back anyways” Marie hastily rambled, watching as the senior agent raised his head. _He was her senior, her senpai after all, basic respect had to be shown, no matter what._

“Yup! I’m here now! I’m agent 4, btw. And I’m going to kick some octarian ass! Don’t know about Callie though, seems she gone over to th—ah—erm …” 4 trailed off, looking worriedly at Marie.

 _Right. Callie may have potentially joined with the octorians._ Marie grimaced; she had no idea how to deal with that. Was there even a way to bring Callie back?

“Perhaps I can help with that,” 0 interrupted her thoughts “Callie isn’t with the octarians of her own free will. She is under the influence of some type of brainwashing device which makes her suspectable to suggestion. Having some sort of impact to remove the glasses and stimulus to make her recall her memories should break her free of this state.” 0 finished, and Marie felt a sense of relief flood over her.

_Callie wasn’t doing this willingly. She could still be saved. There was hope._

\---

The next few hours was spent exchanging information between the agents, bringing each other up to speed on their progress. Agents 2 and 4 on their progress through the canyon, having little to no difficultly until a rather fateful meeting with a certain elite octorian squad. 0 had once again apologised to them, especially 4, regarding that, though both agents brushed it off.

0 had then updated them on whatever he could glean from his time with the octarians and was talking about the black box (aka the respawn jammer) at the DJ’s office when he remembered something else.

“Oh right! While at the DJ’s office, I managed to snag some blueprints as well. It totally slipped my mind to even check what they were, though.” 0 got up, reaching for his octobrush and opening a curved panel to reveal blueprints rolled inside. Pulling them out, he laid them on the table, and the 3 agents pored over them.

“Octobot King II. Version 1.4. Designed by Ida.M.” the blueprints read. They listed every mechanic feature of the robot, its strengths, and weaknesses.

“Can’t believe he reused that failure of a machine and kept the same weaknesses” Marie quipped. At 4’s confused glance, she elaborated: “2 years ago, Octavio tried the same thing, Zapfish and all, minus Callie. He got smacked and demolished by agent 3. Your, ah, predecessor, she’s away with the captain on some other mission though”.

“Mm, I had 3 and the captain investigate ‘Kamabo’, it has potential links to the octorians” 0 added in: “I was supposed to follow them but was held back due to … this” he vaguely gestured at them.

 _Ah, he should really check for any updates from the captain, or Marina._ He had to access the surface first though, he didn’t want to give away the location of the cabin to the octarians. _Sure, it was smack in octarian territory anyways, but from what he learnt during his time undercover, the octarians hardly patrolled here, believing the cabin to be deserted. No point in having them believe otherwise._

0 got up from the table, informing the agents of his plan to go back to the square to get in contact with the captain. It was then his communicator beeped. One new message.

“Speak of the devilfish” Marie quipped, but quickly adopted a more worried look at the seriousness of 0’s face as he read the message.

One new message. _Marina._

DJ_Hyperfresh > Agent 0. This is Marina. I hope you are reading this. I am sorry it took so long to reach you, but time is of the essence now. There’s a chance the world’s about to end. I plead that you help evacuate the harbour. I know this is a lot to ask of you while you are undercover, please forgive me. If there is anysquid you can contact to do so, please do. Forgive me.

\---

And so, the end begins.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wooo! That was quite an info dump now, yea? 
> 
> With this, I hoped I wrapped up all current plot ends with the agents. There will be more of them, but next few chapters is going to transition over to the crew of Octo expansion.
> 
> At last! At long last my favorite character is about to enter the scene. YEA!  
> Hazard a guess who it is? ( I mean, its quite obvious now isn't it? There aren't many characters left to be introduced. If you really cant get it, go translate the binary text a few chapters back, the answer is there.)
> 
> Right, so an update on the fic!  
> As of this posting, I probably would no longer have access to my laptop (where I write), or time to post anymore! As well as limited internet. But don't worry! I have chapters all written and draft posted here, so all i need is to get 5 seconds to click post! Though at times I can't even get access to my phone, so yea.  
> This chapter is actually one of those draft chapters, feels a little weird how I'm writing this in the past for the future. Except the past is my present. hahaha.
> 
> Well then, as always, feedback is appreciated and loved. Erm so I would try my best to reply to any comment, but no more promises! Since I may not have the time to do so. I would come round to doing it eventually when I have access, but no more checking everyday. But still, comment or feedback please. Do bear with me.
> 
> Until next time,  
> Stay Fresh!


	15. Of Fly Octo Fly and Ebb & Flow

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Italics represent thought  
> \--- represent change in location, POV or time passing

DJ_Hyperfresh > Agent 0. This is Marina. I hope you are reading this. I am sorry it took so long to reach you, but time is of the essence now. There’s a chance the world’s about to end. I plead that you help evacuate the harbour. I know this is a lot to ask of you while you are undercover, please forgive me. If there is anysquid you can contact to do so, please do. Forgive me.

A.Zer0. > Understood. I am en-route to the harbour now. Please fill me in on the situation.

\---

Marina hadn’t expected a reply. _At all._ So she was rather surprised to receive a reply as quickly as it came.

She wanted to believe in Eight and Pearl that they could stop the stupid statue before it finished charging, she really did, but … she was worried that there might be backlash from the attack which would affect the harbour.

Then again, if the statue did fire, she doubted the harbour would be the only place affected.

She shook her head. _No! She refused to believe that. They were going to win._

She watched as Eight jumped to the platform near the statue, she was in place. Quickly typing a reply to 0, she nodded at Pearl and prepared for what might well be Off the Hook’s final performance …

A.Zer0. > Understood. I am en-route to the harbour now. Please fill me in on the situation.

DJ_Hyperfesh > Long story short. A genocidal artificial intelligence created by humans wants to fire a giant laser to destroy us all. Agent 8 is inking the laser to stop it from charging. Pearl is readying to blast it with a killer-wail of her own. There may be spill over collateral damage from the blast to the harbour. We have slightly more than 3 minutes.

A.Zer0. > Understood. I will have the harbour evacuated before heading to your location to support in any way I can.

Marina shut off her octophone (a variant of the popular squidphone, but in Marina’s style). She had no idea how 0 was going to evacuate everyone at the harbour but decided to leave things to him. For now, she had only one thing in mind. To concentrate on the situation on hand. She looked at Pearl, receiving a bright smile in response.

 _They could do this. They had to do this. Together._ Music blared. Marina entered the commands to launch the first set of hyperbombs.

And as one they sang. Below them, Eight began inking and shooting at the hyperbombs as they landed.

They sang, sang of freedom, hope, and flight. _Soar now, no longer lost in the dark. Take flight, glide along the winds of change, oh young octoling._

 _Oh, fly now._ Fly Octo Fly.

\---

0 sped through the grate to Inkopolis square, n _ot a moment to lose._

_2 minutes 48 seconds remaining._

After receiving Marina’s message, the 3 agents had discussed it back at the bunker. Marie was concerned about its legitimacy, not to mention that even it was true, neither she nor 4 could be spared to help out. 0 had considered the situation for a moment, before telling the 2 agents to proceed with their plans for tackling Cephalon HQ while he went and checked out the situation on the surface. They had agreed, and after wishing each other luck, separated for their respective missions.

0 exited the grate, entering the square, and made for Ammo knights. _Nope, not the harbour, but Ammo knights._ He had to discuss a certain topic with one particular horse-shoe crab now.

_2 minutes 36 seconds remaining._

Entering the store, 0 found it rather empty, _though not for much longer,_ he thought. Making for the back of the store, he let himself into the backroom, closing the door behind him as he called for the weapons shop owner:

“Sheldon! It’s me, 0! I need you urgently!” 0 didn’t have to wait long, before the weapons shopkeeper—and secret technology adviser and support to the NSS—Sheldon appeared.

_2 minutes 5 seconds remaining._

“Agent 0? Oh my, it’s been far too long! What’ve it been, 3, 4 months already? Wow, you really went all out to in—” 0 raised his hand to stop the chatty crab, interjecting:

“Forgive me for interrupting. But I need you to release the SiegeSlammer now. Threat level high. And make an announcement while you’re at it. Make sure it reaches the harbour. I will explain everything in due time, please trust me on this for now. Also, do you still have those wings prototype I gave you last time?” Sheldon mouthed through 0’s request for a moment, before he spurred into action. 0 was serious, no doubt about that. As much as he wanted to catch up with the agent, he had a job to do too.

10 seconds later, Sheldon returned, handing 0 a package. “Your wings prototype—upgraded to have better controls and speed. Regarding the SiegeSlammer, I’ll have it released right away, all the squids in the area will come running, no doubt!” 0 received the package, unwrapping it to see his prize. Donning the piece of equipment across his back, 0 nodded in affirmation: “Certainly, I’m counting on that. Thank you, Sheldon, I will explain everything later.”

 _1 minute 38 seconds remaining_.

Activating the newest piece of gear, 0’s eyes and tentacles began to glow, as he activated his special, Ink Wings.

Ink Wings, a prototype developed by 0, had been passed to Sheldon for completion the last time he had a proper meeting with the captain on the surface. An upgrade to the inkjet, except the Ink wings could be activated constantly _(he had broken his special limiter as well, much like a certain agent 3)_ , and offered way more manoeuvrability and speed. _Like, serious speed, it could reach velocities that surpassed that of sound._ The compromise was a lack of weapons on the wings, though 0 could still carry and use his modified octobrush.

Nodding goodbye to the horse-shoe crab, 0 blasted off, through the vents at the top of the room.

_1 minute 29 seconds remaining._

He would have a fly by over the harbour to ensure that the population there had made for the square to get their hands on the newest release by Ammo knights. The harbour crowd were mostly turf warring youths, so the word of a new weapon, not to mention a completely new class of weapon, would have them running for the square.

 _Poor Sheldon, he was going to get swamped._ Well.

 _He had known of the SiegeSlammer for a while now, heck, he helped design it._ The SiegeSlammer was a completely new artillery-class weapon, firing over-arching shots from a distance. It was set to be released with the next Splatfest, but as chief designer, not to mention an agent and close friend to Sheldon, he could get it released earlier.

Flying overhead, he caught the echoes of Sheldon’s announcement through the Ammo knights’s speakers, and watched as crowds started rushing for the square. The information would be posted and circulated online as well, and hopefully it would have the desired effect of draining the population of inklings away towards the square. As per his request, 0 spotted several of Sheldon’s drones buzzing around the harbour below him, spreading the word of the newest release of Ammo knights.

Watching squids start making a desperate beeline for the nearest transportation, 0 reckoned that his job was a success. _Sure, he couldn’t get everysquid to evacuate, but at least those squids who hung out at the harbour’s edge were all turf warring squids._ A beep from his communicator caught his attention.

_1 minute 15 seconds remaining._

A.Zer0. > Understood. I will have the harbour evacuated before heading to your location for support in anyway I can.

DJ_Hyperfresh > Agent 0. I am sorry for being demanding again. But I just detected sanitized readings from the statue. There are sanitized octolings preparing to attack agent 8! If there’s any way you can help, please do.

A.Zer0. > Understood. Have just finished evacuating the harbour. OTW.

0 sighed. _One problem after another._ Though, Marina could really work on her communication skills. Sure, they were in a pretty dire situation, but anysquid without his level of intelligence would be quite confused. Still, at least he roughly understood the situation. There were enemies targeting the newest member of NSS _(or was 4 newer? A debate for another day)_ and he would have none of that.

_1 minute 9 seconds remaining._

Gripping his octobrush, 0 dived, picking up speed and flying out over the waves. He wasn’t sure what he could do, but at least he was going to help take some heat off 8’s back. As he flew out over the bay, echoes of music floated out over the waves.

 _Mmm. A beautiful upbeat._ He could see it, now. A statue raising up over the waves. Music that sang of flight and freedom, floated out over the waves, _but now it was different._

Music blared. The song switched, the DJ perfectly switching so that it sounded natural, intended even.

A song of slow starts and new beginnings. _Almost there._ 0 could see who he presumed to be agent 8 now, pinned down fighting against an army of sanitized octolings. The song coaxed for those in the darkness to come into the light. A melody that flowed and ebbed at the soul.

“Raizonnei, nyurazastei. Dismisaidon, gyaro, gyaro. “

He could hear it now. Ebb & Flow.

_41 seconds remaining._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOAH-OH OH, WOAH-OH OH OH!  
> Lets go!  
> Fly Octo Fly is by far one of my favorite splatoon songs.
> 
> So yea, i really tried describing music for the first time here, not quite sure how it sent. Do leave feedback below. on the chapter, or work as a whole.
> 
> Also, I hope the time stamps arent too plot contrived? I mean, theoretically it can be done in the timeframe I set up? Sorry if theres a bit of plot armour here.
> 
> RIght. So to clarify. Agent 0 has an actual online name here instead of the numbers cause its Marina hacking into his device. Last time was 0 hacking into Marina's device. Except Marina kept her in chat name of DJ_Hyperfresh. erm. So Marina's the better hacker, I guess?
> 
> Until next time,  
> Nuritakūru... Tentakuru!!


	16. Of light and darkness

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Italics represent thought  
> \--- represent change in location, POV, or time passing

Battle. It was all 8 ever knew. From her earliest memories after waking up on the metro platform, she had been doing those ridiculous tests, one after another. _Some were easy, fun even, but others …_ 8 surpassed a shiver at some of the levels. _Move it Move it station, Girl Power station, and any 8-Ball station in general …_ she could still feel phantom pain tingling on her back where the ink bomb denotated.

“Test failed” Those words haunted her dreams, nightmares of being denoted again and again. The only redeeming feature about the whole test system were the mem cakes. Each test completion rewarded her with a little slice of who she once was.

 _And battle, once again battle was all she had known._ Whoever she was before the metro, she had been a soldier, from what she could gather she was in an elite octorian splatoon. They were comrades, brainwashed by those googles but able to have a sense of belonging, of loyalty to each other. She wondered what they were doing now, it had been a long time. _Perhaps … perhaps they were no longer in the world, octorian survival rates weren’t all that high._

After this, _she would find them_ , she mentally thought, _wherever they were, she would find them._ At least she would get closure over their fates. Another point added to why she had to win. The list was quite long now, with the dominating points being to thank Pearl and Marina in person, experience the surface, escape this hell of a place… and now, to find her past comrades.

 _She had to win. She was going to win._ 8 stared down the statue in front of her and gripped her octoshot tightly. She finally made it to the surface, she wasn’t going to let anything, _certainly not a pile of sludge that had gone bonkers,_ destroy it. _All she had to do was shoot the hyperbombs Marina dropped onto the statue and she was set. In under 3 minutes. No pressure._

“Just like a round of turf war!” Pearl had exclaimed.

8 had no idea what a turf war was, other than it sounding much like the ‘Great Turf War’ she learnt about in octarian school. That and if she failed this particular ‘test’, there were no respawns, no restarts. People were going to die, the city, the world would be destroyed. Battle, yet again battle _. She had to win. For Pearl and Marina, for herself, for all the inklings unaware in the city, and for all the octarians too._ She had seen the light, however brief it was, the real shining sun. The other octarians deserved to be given the same opportunity, brought out of the darkness, and into the light.

Music blared from the speakers. Marina began launching the hyperbombs to their predesignated locations.

 _I_ _t was time._ 8 launched forward into action, inking and detonating the first few hyperbombs near her. They exploded in a huge shower of pink ink, covering the area around and hopefully, stopping this part of the statue from absorbing power to fire. Shifting form, she swam through the ink, speeding towards the next hyperbomb, her mind keeping track of how many she had gotten, ticking them off from the list Marina had said.

_5, 4, 3, 2, and 1. The chest area was done. 10 seconds before 5 more dropped onto the neck._

Jumping onto the rails that circled the statue, 8 rode them upwards to be in position for the next barrage of hyperbombs. She allowed herself to catch a quick breather. _This wasn’t so bad,_ she thought, _she hoped it stayed that way._

“Dropping 5 hyperbombs onto its neck area now” Marina quipped.

8 had no idea how Marina was doing this, _all of this,_ at the same time: _Singing, being the awesome DJ she was, launching and coordinating hyperbombs, even giving her advice mid song._ All the while the fate of the world hung in balance. _Truly. No wonder she was a genius._

8 leapt from the rails, landing onto the statue right next to the first hyperbomb, quickly inking and detonating it. 8 mentally made a note to ask Marina about multitasking later. Yet another question to ask once this whole farce was over and done with. For now, she had to concentrate on finishing the job.

\---

8 was finishing up the last hyperbomb on the back when Marina’s urgent voice filled her coms: “8! Be careful, I’m detecting sanitized readings from the eye of the statue!” 8 instinctively looked up, though she couldn’t see anything due to being at the back. Hopping onto the ink rail, she sped towards the right arm, the next location for the hyperbombs to be dropped. _Sanitized readings, from the eye, where that pile of goo and metal known as Tartar was. There was a high chance that it meant enemies to combat._

“8! Heads up! We’re seeing sanitized octolings pouring out of the eye, they’re making for you!” Pearl confirmed her fears. _Not good, she had to deal with enemies now. Of course it couldn’t be that straightforward._

“Hmm… it looks like the sanitized octolings aren’t inking the turf, they’re just moving slowly around. Guess their ink would cover the statue and stop it from charging as well.” Marina quipped.

_At least there was a silver lining, of sorts._

“Those idiots are basically locked in place! Sitting ducks! Be careful of their fire when you come around, and take them out!” Pearl exclaimed, and 8 imagined Pearl punching the air for emphasis.

She had never seen Pearl or Marina in person before _(maybe yes for Marina, but at a distance, and brainwashed at that time)_ , but she could visualise them from their character and the photos in her chat log. 8 smiled in determination as she looped around to the front and watched 5 hyperbombs land on the right arm, _she could do this. She was going to win._

Landing on the right arm, 8 cautiously inked and started detonating the hyperbombs there _. No sign of any enemies yet. Where were they?_ Her gaze wandered as she dashed towards the next bomb _… Ah._ She spotted them, hanging near the eye of the statue above her. They couldn’t fire on her, not yet, but they would have a clear shot at her soon. She was going to have to ink the head after this.

_10 hyperbombs._

_1 minute._

_She couldn’t afford to have herself slowed due to interference, even a second was precious time wasted taking enemies out instead of shooting at the hyperbombs._

8 finished off the last hyperbomb on the right arm, hopping onto another ink rail which would take her higher in elevation. _13 seconds before the next and last set of hyperbombs were launched. Could she take out the octarians in that time, she would have to—Uh oh._

Sanitized octo copters flew towards her, firing their disgusting globs of greenish ink. Jumping from the rails to avoid them, 8 spun, splatting them quickly. But it wasn’t over yet, if anything, it was the beginning, she was now in range for the octolings near the eye, and more octo copters were flying out.

 _Not good,_ 8 thought as she was forced to take evasive measures.

“8! Hang on! I just got word that help is on the way!” 8 hardly registered Marina’s statement as she weaved between the enemy fire, shooting and splatting as many as she could. But they were serving their purpose, the 10 hyperbombs flew toward their launched position onto the head, and 8 wasn’t going to reach them all in time at this rate. _Whoever was on the way to help, they better hurry,_ 8 thought grimly.

Then the song changed.

_1 minute remaining._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> do do do do do, do do do do do~ Dah Dah Dah, Dah Dah Dah Dah! 
> 
> 'whoomphee~'
> 
> Eigggght! Agent 8 enters at last!. So yea, the author's favorite character is none other than best girl aka Eight! Like. that face! oh that beautiful, innocent face. That smile! souls will melt from that smile! That nice, toned stomach! those smooth thighs... heh. hehehehehehehehe.....~ *Drools*
> 
> wait
> 
> WAIT
> 
> NONONO
> 
> WAIT! NO!
> 
> DON'T CALL THE FBI! NOOooooo...
> 
> \---
> 
> Right, so this author really wanted to do the FBI joke. haha. 
> 
> ...
> 
> Its a joke, ok. Please don't report me.
> 
> Jokes asides, how was the chapter? As always, feedback is appreciated and loved. I will do my best to respond to every comment once I get the time to do so! 
> 
> And if you actually read so far? even with all the cringe the author been heaping? Thanks! Like really, Thank you!
> 
> Until next time,  
> Veemo!


	17. Of ends and beginnings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Italics represent thought  
> \--- represent change in location, POV or time passing

Agent 0 flew straight into the ongoing battle, ink already changed to pink, much like how most of the statue was now covered in.

Disengaging his ink wings, 0 spun and thrusted his octobrush straight into the fray of sanitized octolings. The impact threw several of them off the statue and into the water below, where they dissolved soundlessly.

Swiping the weapon around in an arc, he splashed a wall of ink on the octo copters hovering around, splatting them as well.

Rising, he met the gaze of the only other octoling around that was pink as he was.

 _So young, yet so determined_ , 0 smiled at the look in her eyes.

“Go. I will take over here.” 0 said in octarian, before repeating in inkling, not quite sure about 8’s grasp of language. He didn’t wait for a response, turning and jumping straight back into the swarm of sanitized octolings, swiping his octobrush in great swaths, cleaving through their ranks.

 _His skill in battle wasn’t at the level of agent 4, or much less agent 3, but he was good enough. Plus, it seemed that the enemies weren’t really firing back much, only attempting to body block and stall for time._ 0 heard the blast of another hyperbomb exploding, signalling that 8 had indeed continued with her task. _Good._

“Now then,” 0 dropped in a mock bow to the sanitized octolings as he spun his octobrush around “let’s dance”. With a gleam in his eyes, 0 charged and attacked once more.

\---

Approximately 10 seconds later, 0 was very much regretting his decision. _He was an intelligence operative, not a combat one!_ Not to mention he was being swarmed by literal mindless zombies attempting to push him off the statue into the water below.

 _‘Go. I will take over from here’ Oh my. Such heroic words._ 0 groaned, dodging another pair of sanitized octolings as they tried to rush him, letting them fall over the edge. _He really could do without the extra commentary._ Except that said commentary came from his own sarcastic mind.

His mental state really needed some fine tuning. _Perhaps he could have Marie help out? He recalled she ran some type of counselling service…_

 _Geh. Now was not the time to be lost in thoughts._ 0 leapt to avoid yet another barrage of enemies intent on rushing him, spinning midair and splashing a wall of ink from his octobrush. He had no way of correcting himself, though it didn’t really matter. Activating his Ink wings once more, 0 hovered in midair, about a metre from the statue’s surface.

 _On hindsight, he totally could have used his mobility to take out those hyperbombs._ But he didn’t really understand the situation, and he had had to get 8 out of a tight spot. Except 8 was actually handling herself, and now he wasn’t.

_Well, best leave it to 8 now. Not that using a close ranged weapon like the brush was going to be efficient at detonating the bombs._

Hovering near the statue such that he drew the continued attention of the grounded octolings, 0 spied octocopters making for him. Hoisting his octobrush, 0 splashed ink at them, before returning to his position.

_This wasn’t too bad, he could just stay here for the remainder of the time…_

“Disgusting! <Crackle> Low life! <Bzzt> How dare, DARE you and your <SLANG_NOT_FOUND> attack Me! DESTROY YOU! Destroy! <ERROR> you!” A blast of static filled voice blared from the eye of the statue. Now a little away from the statue, 0 could see a glob of green slime (?) with metal and … octoling parts sticking out of it. Said creature was now pulsating, almost in anger as dead metallic eyes rolled around and stared at him. 'Almost' because 0 was quite sure a pile of sludge shouldn't be alive, or sentient, for the matter.

“<ERROR> them! Destroy! <ERROR> <SLANG_NOT_FOUND> must be destroyed! <UPLOADING NEW PROTOCOL>” With a beep, the slime sparked, and at once the sanitized octolings flew into a frenzy. Weapons and subs were fired, randomly in all directions. The octolings themselves started moving in a jerky, robotic manner, some simply collapsing, while others threw themselves at 0, falling short and tumbling into the water below.

With a rumble, more sanitized octolings burst from the eye, crawling, climbing over one another, forming a pile of bodies on the face of the statue below and around the eye. Arms clawed at 0, and weapons were jammed through the gaps between bodies and fired in all directions.

0 blasted backwards to avoid the spew of enemy ink. Except the shots and bombs were thrown in such a random manner that he couldn’t dodge all of them. A lucky, or rather unlucky shot chipped at his shoulder, causing 0 to list towards one side, right into a splat bomb.

0’s eyes widened, as his mind caught unto what was about to happen before his body could respond. _No,_ 0 panicked as he crossed his hands in front of him and braced for impact.

The resulting blast threw him forwards, smashing face first into the statue surface.

Sparks flew as his armour broke.

Groaning, 0 pulled himself up, to face the now veritable wall of flesh and limbs as the sanitized octolings turned as one and began crashing down on him. Most fell downwards into the sea, but many still smacked down near him, getting up without a sound and charging him instantly.

 _This wasn’t good._ 0 squinted his eyes, still slightly dizzy from the impact, as he readied himself to be assaulted from multiple directions.

The sound of a ride rail caught his attention. Sparing a second to glance to the side, he saw 8 speeding around below him. For the briefest of moments their eyes met. 8 stretched out her hand, a silent gesture, yet its intention clearly communicated.

Leaping from the statue surface, 0 allowed himself to fall, stretching his hand out in trust.

8 caught him in a vice like grip, using the momentum to swing 0 around to land on the ink rail himself.

Steadying himself, 0 joined 8 in speeding around the statue, away from the front. As their eyes met again, 8 smiled and nodded.

 _It was done, then._ 0 nodded in silent reply, smiling slightly himself.

Pulling out a rather bulky device, 8 tapped several commands in, and sound crackled through.

“—tue has stopped charging! I repeat, the statue has stopped charging!” Marina’s enthusiastic voice sounded on loudspeaker.

 _And not a moment too soon._ Agent 0 had lost count of the time remaining somewhere at 16 seconds remaining—around the time when he was slammed into the statue by the splat bomb. Though, he reckoned that it was close. _8 certainly deserved the position of an agent. She clearly had the skills for it._

 _And she handled herself better than him,_ a small part of his mind quipped. _Right, except it was true._ It stung, a little, that he needed saving from the situation, though 0 brushed it aside. _They weren’t out of the woods yet._

“Energy readings don’t indicate a full charge, but it looks like it’s going to fire anyway!” Marina’s urgent voice came over the speaker, tinged slightly with panic.

 _Tch. Not good._ 0 crouched on the ride rail and reached behind himself, testing to see if he could activate his special once more. _Nope._ The Ink wings were busted, crackling and smoking when he tried to activate them.

“To the platform!” 8 spoke up for the first time since their meeting, pointing at the heli platform/stage that was coming into view now as they completed a circuit around the statue.

 _Speaking of things coming into view… the bunch of sanitized octolings were now also coming into view._ The bunch of flesh and limbs were falling, raining down on them now.

Both agents shared a look before jumping from the rails, shifting and superjumping to the platform.

_Marina better have a plan B._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well then! I hope it wasnt confusing as to why 0 is struggling in battle here. Before when he fought 4, its was a 4 vs 1 fight, and agent 4 actually could have splatted 3 of them. ( it was kinda stated that she could have, but didn't die to the whole moral issue) 
> 
> Here's a brief power scale (in increasing battle power), but do note raw strength isnt all that is, since 0 is more brains over brawn, and techniques and skill counts too. though they are not represented fully in this breif chart. I probably will have a full agent bio as the last chapter, where I dive more fully into the characters of the agents ( and other characters of this fic)
> 
> Erm, mild spolier warning?
> 
> But heres the scale, beginning with a base:
> 
> Normal Octoling
> 
> Elite Octoling
> 
> Octobot King I
> 
> Agent 0
> 
> Octobot King II
> 
> Agent 2
> 
> Agent 4, Agent 8
> 
> Agent 1
> 
> Agent 3
> 
> (yea agent 3 is the strongest. its close between 4,8 and 1,2.)  
> Its brute strength, so I reakon Marie (being a sniper) would be slightly weaker than Callie( a roller) 
> 
> So yea, Agent 0 is really not a combatant.
> 
> Do let me know if your agree or disagree with this power scaling. Again, it's pure brute strength, technique, speed, skill are not fully represented here. As for the Octobot King (s) they are lower than the agents due to inherent weaknesses. 
> 
> Until next time,  
> ぬりたく～る…テンタクル!!  
> (Don't use google translate, PLEASE)  
> (Or do, but with a pinch of salt)


	18. Of ends and beginnings II

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Italics represent thought  
> \--- represent change in location, POV, or time passing

Deep pulsating bass beats reverberated through the air as the two agents of NSS landed on the platform/stage. Now that they were away from the statue, 0 could see the giant laser sticking out of its mouth glowing in the tinge of green gone wrong, charging and building up power to fire.

That bunch of slime and goo was now rambling about complete annihilation and destruction of the world.

_Yep, definitely genocidal._

Besides him, agent 8 rose as well, staring straight at the statue, an unreadable expression on her face.

“Farewell, 10,008. Farewell to you and that worthless cesspool of a city…” the pile of goo droned out, static crackling.

Out of the corner of his eye, 0 spied subtle muscle contractions on agent’s 8 body. Even though she remained expressionless, 0 could tell the words meant something to her.

The music was now speeding up, transitioning from slow deep beats to fast rapid beats that screamed ‘Hype!’ with a capital H.

With a 'Whop!' Pearl slammed down beside 8. 

“Great work, Eight—I got it from here.” Pearl lightly punched 8’s shoulder, before winking and giving her a thumbs up.

Sparing a moment to glance at 0, Pearl quirked an eyebrow at his presence, but didn’t say anything.

Captain Cuttlefish lightly tapped on the platform with his cane, drawing her attention to him, before nodding in approval to 0’s presence.

Apparently satisfied, Pearl turned and stepped towards the statue as 0 gave a small bow of greeting to the captain. The captain received the greeting with a nod of his own, but didn’t reply, opting to look ahead with a look that said explanations came later.

0 couldn’t agree more. Back to the action unfolding in front of him now. There wasn’t much to do except watch Pearl; _he hoped this was all part of Marina’s plan._

The beat had dropped. The music’s tune now mirrored that of Ebb & Flow. An instrumental remix, of sorts.

“VOCAL CHORDS READY!” Pearl screamed spoke.

“AYO, STATUE!” Pearl’s tentacles started glowing a bright neon pink as she struck a pose.

 _Ever so dramatic,_ 0 smirked slightly at the antics of one half of Off the Hook. He couldn’t see it, but could feel the cockiness and grin Pearl no doubt was now wearing. With a flourish, Pearl flipped and activated her special, a giant stylized killer-wail forming into view.

_Huh. That totally didn’t obey the laws of physics._

Except that no one seemed to care or notice at all.

Captain cuttlefish was now dancing besides the killer-wail, cane waving in the air. 0 was now really stumped, the captain he knew was quite composed and ratted orders out, and now, _now,_ he was dancing without a care in the world.

 _Must be the music. Which was totally fresh,_ 0 noted as he took a moment to appreciate it.

The beats were now blasting from the speakers and were speeding up even more with each passing second. He could feel it; _the moment was coming._ Despite the rather grim situation (they were looking right at a world ending death laser about to fire), 0 felt a genuine smile forming across his face.

 _How long has it been?_ 0 wondered, _since he actually smiled properly, without any semblance of a facade. Heh. Must be the music._

The statue fired, sending vibrations through the air. Death. Destruction.

“Boo-YAAAAAAHHHHHH!” Pearl screamed into the killer-wail, a blast of pink rocketing from the killer-wail, slamming into that of the statue’s. The sound wave produced shook the platform, knocking the captain off his feet as he landed rather awkwardly on the platform. On the other side, 8 crouched to keep her balance.

The clash of pink and green struggled in front of them. Twisting, turning as they both seemed to take on a will of their own and vyed for control. Miniature blasts of pink and green spiked out from the collision point, spraying out in all directions. From the platform, 0 could not make out which side was dominating, but for a moment it seemed the green was overtaking the pink. Then the moment was gone, as with a blast of light and sound from the killer wail, the swirl of pink roared and tunnelled into the green, cleaving through and blasting into the statue.

The tails ends of Pearl’s Booyah echoed in the air as light and ink gushed from the statue, various parts and items flying out and splashing into the water below.

The song was now in its ending phase, calming down, and blew over those gathered, just as the death and destruction was blown away.

_He would have to check that the genocidal sludge was truly out of commission after this, though, though for now he, they, could enjoy the moment._

0 watched as Marina hopped down onto the platform herself, tackling Pearl in a giant hug. A look of shock washed over Pearl’s face as they both dropped onto the ground, before arms and legs began flailing as Marina repeatably snuggled and rubbed her face against hers.

 _Rigggght. Time to look away._ 0 averted his eyes. _They should be fine._

_Oh! Three was waking up._

Changing the subject of his mind. 0 watched as agent 3 roused from being unconscious before. How she was knocked out, 0 didn’t know, though it certainly had to have been something immensely dramatic.

_Perhaps some extreme boss battle, absolutely nothing like being hit on the head. Pfft. That was just stupid now, wasn’t it?_

0 made himself scarce, or as scarce as he could on an opened air platform, not wanting to confuse agent 3 with his presence.

Choosing to stand beside Captain Cuttlefish, 0 saw agent 8 crouching and looking at the situation _._

 _Pearl and Marina were … still at It. It may have intensified. Erm, right, next. Agent 3 was, well, getting up._ And the captain and himself were now standing, looking out over Inkopolis. 0 saw a smile cross 8’s face, the first time he saw expression on her face.

_Precious. Truly precious._

_To protect. That was what the NSS was formed for in the first place._ Somewhere along the line, 0 confessed he may have lost it, just a tad. _But now, once again he saw the purpose of NSS. The New Squidbeak Splatoon. The agents, they were here to protect, to safeguard. For peace._

Looking out over the city of Inkopolis, 0 appreciated the view. Pearl and Marina joined as well _(apparently they were done doing … It)_ , plopping down on the edge of the platform. Soon all those gathered were doing the same thing, looking out over the city.

 _To protect, to safeguard. For peace._ They are the agents of New Squidbeak Splatoon.

\---

A deep rumble echoed overhead, causing the ground to shake mildly, and the rocks to scatter.

“What was that?” 4 whispered nervously into her mic.

“No idea. Finish up there, grab the zapfish and head back. Let’s take a breather.” 2 responded into 4’s headset.

4 nodded, then remembering that Marie couldn’t see her, gave her affirmative through the mic.

After parting ways with agent 0, she and Marie had started tackling Cephalon HQ again. She had only finished about one stage (the third stage of the area), when the rumble came. Even though she was technically in a kettle, with some weird space-time distortion _(which she totally didn’t understand, Marie didn’t either, but pretended she did when lecturing 4 about octarian kettles)_ , 4 wasn’t terribly fond of being squashed by falling rocks. Or worse, trapped and stuck.

_Ew. Nope. Not her. She’s too fresh for that._

_Right. Time to heed Marie’s advice._

4 leapt from her position, landing below, next to 2 patrolling octarians soundlessly. _And it went pretty much as it would. The 2 poor souls never stood a chance._ 4 refilled her ink before continuing to sneak onwards towards her goal. _She had been cautious, more so lately than in the past, opting to refill her ink constantly, and to be watchful for enemies._

_Must be due to the recent incident._

4 suppressed a shiver. It was all good now, turned out the octobrush was a fellow agent in disguise, on their side all along. _But still, the battle … it was … unpleasant._

She didn’t blame 0, not at all, _it was just that … well_... 

4 sighed and shook her head. Maybe she should get counselling, and she had read that Marie begun some therapy show as part of her solo career...

“…” _maybe she could get some help from her fellow agent._

The rest of the area hadn’t proved to be anything special at all, and 4 cleared it.

Grabbing the zapfish, 4 looked up, but the rumbles had stopped already. _Well, better safe than sorry,_ 4 thought, and besides, _she had to return the zapfish any_ _ways._

Making her way out of the rapidly diming kettle, she prepared to head back to the cabin again, her prize in tow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Victory! 888.88%
> 
> With this, Octo expansion is wrapped up. The next time we see this group of characters will be at the end. Now, all thats left is to finish up the campaign agents (2 and 4). 
> 
> Whoa, the fic is ending... Yea. I initially planned for this fic to only reach 10 ish chaters, and here we are now. chapter 22 should be the last chapter. maybe an epilogue. or an extra chapter for the character bio. but thats it!
> 
> Well, we're not there yet! So do continue sticking around until the end! Thanks!
> 
> At the time of this posting, it probably will no longer be a chapter ever 2 days. Maybe 1 chapter every week? I'm not sure what the future holds, For now I'm just writing this in advance.
> 
> If it does reach a stage where its 1 chapter every 1 week, do forgive me. I hope you will continue reading nonetheless.
> 
> 'That totally doesn't obey the laws of physics' is a reference to Captain America: Civil War, Spiderman vs Captain America fight. 
> 
> Until next time,  
> Stay Fresh!


	19. Of Callie and Marie

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Italics represent thought  
> \--- represent change in location, POV or time passing

_It was coming._

_The moment was upon them. Finally. Time to make those inklings PAY!_ Callie paused. _Huh? What did the inklings need to pay for again? Ah well, whatever. They had to PAY! Just cos’._

Callie stood on the stage prepared for her by DJ Octavio as she waited. _Any moment now._ The hall was packed, full of octarians here to cheer the DJ and her on. _They couldn’t lose! NO! They would win! And the inklings would PAY!_

Before, she was still somewhat hesitant about this whole gig. She trusted the DJ, but really now, _did they have to fight?_ But now, her mind was cleansed, enlightened. She knew what she had to do.

 _A traitor._ The very splatoon assigned to her had had a dirty traitor, the commander, no less. She was disgusted! _How could this be so?!?_

 _B_ u _t then why? Why did she feel so attached, so safe with the commander when she, no, IT was a filthy traitor?_

Callie hated traitors, those that abandoned their cause, their comrades for the enemy, it was only natural that they be referred to as ‘it’.

With the announcement, the DJ had shown Callie the 3 members of the team, betrayed and stabbed in the back by the traitor.

Then those lights, those beautiful lights, better than those already shown by the glasses. Then she knew, she understood what she had to do. The inklings had to pay.

So she stood, waiting for the intruder to appear. She and the DJ had prepared for this, having the DJ Octavio himself remixing her song of ‘Bomb rush blush’ was such an honour!

And it would be preformed to all these wonderful octarian fans as they ripped the inkling intruder apart. _Literally._ The DJ had some wonderful new bombs and toys to be used. _Mega splat bombs? Ink tornedoes? Wonderful!_

But that would be simply the preclude, after this, they would rise, rise and conquer the surface once more.

The kettle rumbled, as green ink gushed down to the entrance. The intruder was here. _She warned them, but they wouldn’t listen. And those that didn’t listen had to be punished._

Callie turned such that her back faced the intruder, and heard the distinct sound of a superjump as the intruder flew over to the stage.

_Time to rock._

\---

“Wait… is that…?”

“CALLIE?!”

A voice called out, from the speakers of the communication device the intruder carried.

 _Or rather, it was The voice again. The voice, that somehow dredged at her memories._ Callie ignored the thoughts, no going back now, she had made up her mind!

“I told you to leave…” Callie stated, turning and facing the intruder with arms crossed.

She didn’t know why she had even bothered to warn them, or try and get them to turn away. But she wanted to, _somehow … she didn’t want to fight them._ The DJ had echoed her thoughts back then, allowing her to warn the intruders to turn away. Something about making the reveal all the more satisfying.

She didn’t understand, but suffice to say she did give ample warning.

_But now it was over. No more games._

“Callie… Why?” The voice said, so hurt, so in pain. Distress and sadness were conveyed clearly in just a simple question.

“…” _No. She couldn’t falter. The lights said so. She couldn’t. The inklings had to pay._

“Now you leave me no choice… Prepare to be rocked!” Callie exclaimed, striking a pose, before cutting the air forcefully. _The lights were beautiful, stronger, now. Diamond shaped. Pulses of colour. Ah._

“Hey, DJ!” Callie finished, pointing into the air in a ‘let’s go!’ pose.

Time to introduce her partner, the one and only DJ Octavio!

Arrows of light flashed across her eyes _. They were all she needed. All she wanted. Time to make the inklings pay._

And the Octobot King II rose.

\---

_It wasn’t going well. Impossible. They had to, had to turn this around!_

No matter what they did, no matter what they tried, the intruder dodged through it all. _No! NO! She couldn’t allow this. Another! Another bomb rush_! Launching yet another barrage of mega splat bombs, Callie watched as the intruder weaved through the bombs, nimbly jumping away from the denotation radius, before swiftly re-inking the ground with her green ink.

The DJ launched yet more punches, but the intruder swung her weapon around and shot the fists, causing them to rocket back and hit them.

The impact caused her to lose her balance, again. She quickly picked herself up, making sure to keep the song going.

 _S_ h _e wouldn’t be upstaged by a single inkling, no way! They had to win! What was the DJ doing? Surely he knew the stakes?_

“HNNNNG! Come on, Octavio!” _Dammit, she even dropped his title. Ah, well. She was pissed though._

“SNAP OUT OF IT, CALLIE!” The voice exclaimed. _The voice again. Urggg. Her head was starting to hurt._ The lights flashed, but they were starting to annoy her.

 _She didn’t want this. She did. She, no, she didn’t. She did. Didn’t. did. Didn’t. URGGGG._ HER HEAD WAS HURTING _. AGAIN. DID. DIDN’T._

“Octavio is exposed! This is your chance, Agent 4!” The voice interrupted her thoughts. _What? Oh no, the DJ was on the ground, exposed and helpless._ Callie watched as the intruder, or agent 4 as The voice had called her, inked and whacked the DJ back into the Octobot King II.

“HMPH…” Callie groaned _. Things weren’t looking too good._ And her head was still hurting, like it was trying to split in half. _On one hand, she had to make the inklings pay. On the other, she had to … what was it? WHAT WAS IT?? URGG. Protect? Why? She had to protect?_

Grabbing her face, Callie felt herself shaking. There were 2 separate identities within her now, each vying for control. _Who was real? Who was fake?_

“Callie! It’s me. Your cousin Marie. Try to remember!” the voice urged in desperation. _Mar—Marie? Who’s that? Cousin? What? URGggg… ah._

 _Ahhhh…_ The lights were back, no longer flashing haphazardly. They were back, smooth and well. Again, she could be in control once more.

”DJ! DROP THAT SPICY WASABI BEAT!” Callie screamed, striking a pose once more. _The show must go on. They could do this!_

\---

The canyon was silent. Most of the areas had been powered down due to the recovery of the zapfish by agent 4. And the remainder of the octarians were no doubt attending the ‘concert’ hosted by the DJ now. And thus, silence reigned, only to be broken as the NSS Hover-truck blasted past.

“Can’t this thing go any faster? I swear, I could be there already if I just superjumped…” Marie, decked out in her Squid sisters outfit, directed the question at the driver as she sat in the back, watching the action on a screen.

“I… I swear I’m going as fast as I can! And the truck will act as a mobile stage, yes? So… so it’s needed! We’re almost here! Just a little more!” The driver, Sheldon responded franatically.

 _Poor guy,_ Marie knew the answer, of course, but she was worried, irritated, and generally a mess. She had to take it out, somehow.

Marie sighed, and mumbled an apology to the horse-shoe crab. He didn’t deserve to take the brunt of her irritation. He was a good person, always willing to help…

Apparently he had just helped agent 0 the day before, though Marie hadn’t had time to listen to the how yet.

She cupped her face in her hands, watching the screen that showed agent 4 battling against the Octobot King II. 4 wasn’t struggling, per se, but… _There, again._

Whenever 4 launched one of the Octobot King II’s fist back, it sent its riders reeling. She didn’t care one bit about Octavio, not at all, that oversized octopus could rot for all she cared, but… above him, on the stage, was Callie.

Marie winced as she watched Callie knocked off her feet again, before hastily picking herself back up. Even from the tiny screen, it was quite obvious that Callie had a slight limp by now, and who knows how many bruises from the constant falls. And yet she continued dancing, singing as if nothing happened.

“…” Marie could feel anger welling up inside her. _That damned Octavio, what had he done to Callie?_ Marie closed her eyes, and pushed back the anger, taking deep breathes to calm herself. _She had to keep her head in the game._

“Agent 4! I’ll be there soon. Hold out a little longer!” Marie unmuted her mic and informed the other agent. _Just a little more, and she would be there. Just a little more, Callie._

_I’m on my way._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally got around to writing from Callie's POV again. I realized that there's been like, only one chapter so far from her POV. Then again, writing from a brainwashed POV is hard. like really hard.
> 
> As for Marie, well, I hope you guys can see the character development from her over the fic. I've written from her POV a couple of times now, and she went from being quite broken and depressed (not even able to think about Callie) to being ready to confront her worst nightmares (Somewhat accept the situation, and ready to meet and try to save Callie).
> 
> As for this chapter, I hope it was enjoyable. I tried doing a fight from the 'enemy' POV instead of the 'hero'. Cos I felt that always being from the 'hero' side was repetitive, and frankly didnt want to write a very detailed battle scene between 4 and the Octobot King II. Since it's (the boss fight) fairly straightforward, and 4 would have no problems handling it.
> 
> Well, then, As always, feedback on the chapter or work as a whole is appreciated and loved. I will try reply to every comment when I can.
> 
> Again, I apologize if this chapter is posted extremely late, or off schedule.
> 
> Until next time,  
> Stay Fresh!


	20. Of The Squid Sisters

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Italics represent thought  
> \--- represent change in location, POV or time passing

Marie looked away from the action unfolding on the screen, looking out at the passing scenery of the canyon. There wasn’t much, everything was featureless, bland.

Marie rubbed her temples, allowing her mind to wander for a bit. It had been a day since they (she and 4) spilt up with agent 0. Shortly after the rumbling the day before, 4 had returned to base and they were evaluating the situation when a rather short, cryptic message came through the cabin’s screen.

“2, 4. Surface is secure. Investigating with Cap. & 3\. Signed-0”

Both agents had came to the similar conclusion on the message. It seemed the situation on the surface was under control, though further investigation was needed. And the captain and 3 were fine too. Good for them.

Once a good half hour had passed after the rumbling, Marie had given the go ahead for 4 to continue with Cephalon HQ. The rest of the day had seen 4 clearing the remaining stages in of the octarian HQ, and now, now they were here.

The boss kettle. The Octobot King II. DJ Octavio. Callie. _Callie. Oh Callie._

“Agent 2! Heads up, we are reaching! Activating kettle penetration technology now! Once we are through, make for the stage above!” Sheldon announced from the front, before adding as an afterthought “Best of luck, Marie!”

 _Right._ They were here now. She must have been more lost in thought then she intended. Looking at the screen, it seemed 4 was still doing fine. _Good._ Marie grabbed her E-Liter 3K, loaded with a special shot of ‘low tide ink’.

She licked her lips. This was going to be tricky, she couldn’t miss this shot now.

Giving her thanks to Sheldon, Marie prepared herself, as the Hover-truck bypassed the space-time field of the kettle and entered the concert hall.

Climbing out onto the top of the truck (which doubled as a stage) Marie took note of the situation. No one had noticed their entrance yet, though that would quickly change.

Callie’s voice echoed around her, as ‘Bomb rush blush’ was sung. As they approached the stage, Marie activated the radio jammer. Slow beats of music played from the Hover-truck’s speakers, as Marie began her own solo song, overwriting and mixing with the remixed ‘Bomb rush blush’.

Marie levelled her charger, took aim, and shot Callie.

\---

The world was spinning.

Sparks ate at and flashed in the corners of her vision. Time seemed to slow, and speed up all at once.

Thoughts were jumbled, memories of the past coming through in trickles. Then torrents. Then a steady flow.

“Unnhhh…” She groaned. She was still fighting. No, she wasn’t. But still on the stage. With Octavio.

 _Why?_ A headache, again. Flashes at the corners of her eyes, little miniature fireworks exploding across her face.

“—ile Callie is stu—” Snippets of speech filtered through. The voice, it was The voice again.

 _Her name. Callie. Callie cuttlefish._ Somehow it meant something. Something important. She didn’t know why, but she struggled to hang on to it. _Callie cuttlefish._

_~~eiraM hsifelttuc. spmarG.~~ _

“—AKE UP, CALLIE!” The voice again. _How persistent. How familiar._

\---

_~~“Wake up, Callie! We need to reach the studio in 20 minutes! We got a special presentation today, remember? WAKE. UP! “~~ _

_~~Her face. Her name. What were they? Who are they? Why? Why were they so important?~~ _

_~~She said her name everyday. She spoke to her everyday. They were so close. They cared, and loved each other. They were … they were … what were they? Who was it? Who were they?~~ _

_~~Someone precious to her. She shouldn’t forget. She didn’t want to forget. Who? Who was it?~~ _

_~~who? Who? WHO? WHO?~~ _

_~~What’s your name?~~ _

\---

She was dimly aware she continued singing. Somehow—must be due to age old muscle memories. But from where? _Not… not from her time with the octarians. Further back, from the past._

_~~“tengA 3! naC uoy raeh ruo gnos?”~~ _

_~~“oidaR etirwrevo, detavitca.”~~ _

_~~ohW? ohW saw taht? yehT erew … gnimrofrep. ehS saw ereht. eiraM. EIRAM. reH nisuoc. woH dlouc ehs tegrof? eiraM.~~_

_~~"..."~~ _

_~~A concert. Just like now. But in the past. Similar. They fought, they sang. As one.~~_

_~~The heavenly melody. The one and only…~~ _

~~~~\---

“My… My head…” Callie muttered, swaying slightly.

The song stopped. Callie no longer sang. She couldn’t, everything was overtaking her so quickly.

Mumbles of speech in the background. Cheers from the stands. Octavio’s angry rumbling. And The voice.

The voice.

“Callie! Remember!” The voice permeated the silence. The voice broke through her thoughts _._

_Remember. Yes, she wanted to remember. What? What was it?_

A beat. A steady catchy beat played through the air _. It was familiar. So familiar._

Goosebumps ran down her spine. Electrical shocks jolted through her as neurons connected. Memories came crashing down. If it was a torrent before, this was a waterfall. An avalanche.

“That heavenly melody!”

 _Yes. The heavenly melody._ Callie found herself already completing the sentence before she even knew why, or how.

“The one and only…”

The beat was heating up now, other sounds joining in.

“I… I remember…”

The tune was added, developed. It came alive, crawling at, and into her soul. _It was real, it was here. The heavenly melody. The one and only._

“YEAH!”

_The heavenly melody. The one and only. The Squid Sisters!_

Callie leapt. She didn’t quite know how, but at once everything made sense. She was Callie cuttlefish of the Squid Sisters. Marie, Marie cuttlefish, her cousin, and other half of the Squid Sisters stood on the stage.

Ink gushed through her skin. Clothes and outfits changed mid-air. She landed, body already preparing the dance moves.

 _Yes. The heavenly melody._ Spicy Calamari Inkantation.

“Ya weni marei mirekyarahire. Juri yu mirekerason. Kire hyari yoriherahe nyurahera. Nunnyura unera yurawera nyimerani.” They sang. As one.

“THE SQUID SISTERS ARE BACK!” Sheldon chattered in excitement from the driver’s seat.

 _Sheldon, right._ And with him the memories of the New Squidbeak Splatoon came. _Yes. That was right. She was an agent, an agent of the New Squidbeak Splatoon!_

The Squid Sisters are back.

She is back.

Agent 1 of the NSS is back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kimi no Na wa?  
> What's your name?  
> (I know there are other more proper ways of saying that in Japanese, but I wanted this phrase)
> 
> Ahhhhh so the hit anime film of 2016 'Your Name' (Or 'Kimi no na wa' or 'What's your name?' ; depends on the translation) directed by Makoto Shinkai (-san) is one of my all time favorite movies. So yea, there's a reference to it in this chapter, and quite suiting at that. I can't find a relevant video to show the scene I'm talking about, but its right before the song 'sparkle' plays.
> 
> So yea, I would definitely recommend anyone to go see it. but well, to each their tastes.
> 
> Erm so, not quite sure how to do a proper disclaimer, but well. I claim no rights whatsoever to 'Kimi no na wa'. It is written by Makoto Shinkai (-san) and produced by CoMix Wave Films.
> 
> \---
> 
> Next! Some lines seem to be gibberish in this chapter. I assure your its not! Though you dont have to translate them per se. Like, you wouldn't be missing out some major plot in those scribbled lines. but yea, if anysquid's interested in deciphering, all I did was flip the letter front to back.
> 
> For example. This sentence.  
> roF elpmaxe. sihT ecnetnes.
> 
> Kudos to whoever actually translated it.
> 
> Until next time,  
> yatS hserF!


	21. Of conclusions and openings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Italics represent thought  
> \--- represent change in location, POV, or time passing

Agent 4 smiled. _At last._ It seemed Callie was able to be saved, and was now free of the brainwashing. Time to mop up the loose ends. Primarily that giant overweight octopus and his toy. The Octobot King II _._

 _Heh. What a ridiculous name._ The fight so far had been a piece of cake. The weaknesses of the Octobot King II were fairly obvious and easy to exploit, plus due to having the literal blueprints to the machine, 4 had been having a field day picking it apart bit by bit.

 _Oh?_ _It seemed Sheldon had a new toy he wanted her to use_ , 4 thought as she spied one of Sheldon’s drones fly towards her position. Jumping and snagging its contents as the drone flew past, the first thing that 4 noticed about the new toy was that it was rather heavy. _Hmm?_

4 tore through the packaging to reveal… _oh my. Hello there._

A gleaming hunk of golden, pure destruction greeted her, begging to be picked up and used. 4 obliged, lifting the rainmaker.

_Heh. Now this was something._

“Agent 4! I brought you a modded version of the Rainmaker!” Sheldon chattered in her earpiece. _Modded? Ooh._ The crab was speaking her language now. Hefting the Rainmaker, she gave it a brief run down.

According to Sheldon, the changes enabled the Rainmaker to not self-destruct after 60 seconds. _Nice._ 4 smiled.

With the pure power the Rainmaker dished out, she should be able to one shot those pesky fists launched by the Octobot King II and send them back into the machine.

4 tuned out the rest of the chatty crab’s explanation on how to use the rainmaker. She didn’t need that, no sir. She held the rank of S+ in all her ranked modes, Rainmaker included.

“Rainmaker!” Octavio hissed, before the Octobot King II blasted upwards to the top of the dome.

“Follow him, Agent 4! End this!” Marie commanded. _Sure, don’t need to tell me,_ 4 thought as she shifted forms and made for the launch pad which appeared.

_You aren’t getting away now, coward octopus._

Superjumping, 4 landed on the ride rails above. _Time to end this._ Building up a charge, 4 took aim, and fired at the approaching fist. Just as she expected, a single shot was all it took to send the fist spiralling back into the Octobot King II.

4 grinned fiercely, _all too easy now._

\---

The remainder of the fight had gone pretty much exactly as expected. All 4 had to do was dodge the spinning punches, and shoot any of the normal punches back into the Octobot King II.

 _Why, oh why did this idiot keep doing the same thing again which obviously wasn’t working? And he was supposed to be some great tactician now, wasn’t he? Cod, he sure didn’t seem like such._ Well, 4 wasn’t complaining, she had an easy way of defeating the toy and its rider after all.

“I CAN’T… RESIST THE GROOVE… ANY LONGER! Splat you, Squid Sisterrrrrrrs!” Octavio rumbled from his seat. 4 could see he was dancing now, bouncing around in his seat.

 _Heh. Great tactician. Bah, what a joke._ And what was wrong with the ‘groove’? _It was fresh! So fresh!_ With every lyric of the song pulsing through her body, it seemingly felt like it was filling her with endless energy and strength repeatedly.

 _Another, another, another._ Agent 4 continued to launch back the Octobot King II’s fists back to its user. _This was getting old, slow now. Better end soon._

As if reading her thoughts, the Octobot King II puffed with black smoke as another fist collided with it. Spinning on its axis, the machine rolled around in the air for a moment, before gravity took over and dragged it down with a smash.

“Agent 4! Head for Octavio from the inner ride rail!” Marie said. _Mmm._ The damned octopus was exposed again, writhing and struggling on the top of the now downed machine. _Time to finish this, rainmaker style,_ 4 grinned as she jumped and transitioned to the inner ride rail.

Making her way downwards, 4 crouched, and at the right moment, jumped and lifted the rainmaker high above her head.

With a slam, she catapulted her hands forward, and smashed the rainmaker into the octopus known as Octavio. Just like a victory in rainmaker.

“Guh…”

“Not again…”

“Cross-fade to blaaaaaaack…”

The machine spun in jerky movements. It lifted off the floor, tilting sideways, then backwards. Strange creaking noises sounded out. Electrical sparks ran across the circumference of the machine. It was spinning now, light beams shining through cracks in the metal like a disco ball. Static filled the hall. The machine grew in size, bubbling, almost like a bubble going to pop.

It grew. And grew. And grew. Then a moment of silence, before the Octobot King II exploded in a flurry of green ink.

4 watched the whole spectacle from the ground. _The song had stopped_ , she realized.

Looking up, she saw Callie and Marie embracing now, on the stage. Shoulders were shaking, as their bodies leaned close together and they whispered to each other. 4 spied Marie stroking her cousin’s back before they went out of sight as the Hover-truck glided downwards to pick her up.

_They deserved a moment, after all they been through._

4 glanced around the concert hall, her gaze landing on the numerous attendees for the first time. _Octarians. And Octolings as well._ Now in a mess of activity. Some standing still, while others were holding their heads in a crouched position, and yet more were running aimlessly around. 4 wondered what would happen to them now, now that their leader was defeated right in front of them.

“Agent 4! Grab Octavio and let’s scram! The Great Zapfish will return to its place by itself naturally.” Sheldon exclaimed, with the Hover-truck now within her hearing range.

 _Right. Octavio._ 4 caught sight of his form in the mess of green ink, unconscious on the ground. Running over, she grabbed the octarian leader rather unfalteringly by his limb tentacles and started hauling him towards the Hover-truck. She hoped no one was going to stop her.

With a huff, she swung the unconscious Octavio into the back of the Hover-truck, before jumping in herself. Feeling a tad like a squidnapper _(or was it octonapper?)_ , 4 looked away from the form of Octavio and at the crowd below once more. As the Hover-truck lifted off, 4 found herself thinking about the remaining octarians and octolings once more, _she hoped they were going to be fine._

\---

Darkness. A field of darkness. And in the darkness, they lay. But cracks appeared, and with it light and sound. The cracks grew, pieces of darkness came off. The light grew brighter, rousing them. The sound grew louder, waking them. The light and sound were overwhelming now, strong and alive. They were alive. Vision was cleared at last. They were in the light. They were dancing to the sound.

The googles which covered their eyes were removed. The light and sound grew stronger, if even possible. They saw. They saw each other for the first time. Eyes roamed. Smiles appeared. Once emotionless faces grew vibrant with emotion. Weapons were dropped. Fingers brushed each other. Hands gripped and touched.

The music was fading now, cutting out. They looked to the action. It was finishing. Their leader. DJ Octavio. He was defeated. Everything they ever knew was a lie. They saw the truth for it was now. The light. The sound. They wanted more of it. Eyes met once more. Smiles were exchanged. They nodded. They had a destination. To look for the light, the sound.

To the surface, now. And behind them, their past. An Octoshot, Blaster, and Charger lay on the floor, discharged. The weapons were no longer needed. A new life, a new life of light and sound awaited them.

Freedom. To the surface, now. To the surface.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Greetings from the 24th of July! thats when i'm writing this actually, though i wonder what the date will be by the time I post this? hmmm. whatever.
> 
> SO! I'm excited. Like really excited, why? Cause i've finished up writing the sequeal to this work as well. It actually was going to be an epilogue to this fic... but i ended up expanding it to 5 chapters.... then now 10 chapters.... YEA MY PLANNING IS REALLY OFF OK?
> 
> Honestly? Erm. I kinda fell in love with it. By the time of this posting I probably would have held onto it fro quite a while now (keep in note that its the 24th for me now) ANNNND I feel (personal opinion) that its better than Dark before the Dawn. at least i like writing it more.
> 
> So yea. I tottallly shouldnt be writing all that ^ cause  
> 1\. its confusing as heck for you readers in the future  
> 2\. this is still DBTD, not the sequeal yet  
> 3\. JUST BECAUSE IM THREE! erm. ok, that just a reference actually.
> 
> \---
> 
> OOOK. SO, over to the fic now. In the words of my sister (my beta reader), 'this chapter is a bit lackluster'. yea, i agree. cause well, agent 4 is just too strong. and the octobot King II just has too obvious weaknesses. which is why I had the majority of the fight take place from the Callie's POV previous chapter (s) to give it more kick. so yea. how did you guys and gals find it?
> 
> Well whatever, with this chapter, everything is more or less wrapped up. i mean, its the second to last chapter already. there may be still some unresolved plot points which i will finish up next chapter. Though next chapter is more of an epilodge then anything.
> 
> Well, as always, feedback is appreciated and loved. I will try to reply all comments when i get the time to do so! 
> 
> Until next time,  
> Stay Fresh!


	22. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Italics represent thought  
> \--- represent change in location, POV, or time passing

**The daily squid**

A most welcome reveal!

As announced this morning with Inkopolis news, the Great Zapfish has returned. Truly, this is such a relief to the residents of Inkopolis. The Great Zapfish accounts for over 90% of power generation of Inkopolis.

Experts from the university of Deep Sea Bass had voiced their concerns that a prolonged absence of the Great Zapfish would lead to an utter collapse of Inkling culture. It is most fortunate that such a case did not come to pass.

Just 2 years ago, a similar case had happened. The similarities between the incidents are now too suspicious to ignore, as rumours are now flying around that some external force may be involved.

The government has yet to issue a formal statement on the incident, and we at the Daily squid are still attempting to reach them for one.

The second reveal was the return of pop star and idol Callie Cuttlefish! The former member of ‘The Squid Sisters’ and rising icon in the entertainment industry had gone missing about 3 weeks ago. Attempts from her managers to reach Callie had failed, and no squid had any idea where she disappeared to.

However, just earlier today, Brine Flow, Miss Callie’s direct manager, had called for a press conference where he announced Miss Callie’s return. The idol in question has yet to show her face, though a selfie of herself posing in a victory peace sign was uploaded to her Sqweeter account.

The Daily Squid was able to interview some members of Callie’s management team, and they all seem rather shocked, but pleased over this reveal as well. Brine Flow himself had made a rather cryptic statement:

“We are extremely pleased to have (Miss) Callie back. We assure the fans that we will do everything in our power to ensure there is a proper Q&A session (with Miss Callie). Furthermore, while still in the early stages, we are planning for a special release later this month, with a partnership with SeaSquid productions.”

For those of you who do not understand, we at the Daily squid have tried to unpack this statement as best as we could. Most of the statement was rather straightforward, though the last part has sent fans in a craze over social media.

SeaSquid productions is the company currently having Marie Cuttlefish as their lead hostess. As many of you would know, Miss Marie had taken a break recently, though implications of this statement from Mr Brine are intriguing, to say the least.

Our honest guess? There may be a new single, or perhaps concert (dare we hope?) from both Miss Callie Cuttlefish and Miss Marie Cuttlefish, as they were both once members of ‘The Squid Sisters’.

And finally, perhaps not as interesting as the above two pieces of news, we have the first week debut of the SiegeSlammer, from Ammo Knights. There had been rave reviews from the few squids that managed to get their hands on this new sudden release by Ammo Knights. We at the Daily Squid had been able to interview the Crescent Moon, a team of 4 pro ranked players, who had gotten their hands on the SiegeSlammer:

“We are extremely happy and pleased to be able to have access to this new weapon. It should definitely give us a new way, (and) … method to … the way we combat. Team composition, strategies … changes will be needed to be made.” Their stand-in leader, a player by the name of Levy stated.

“A shame (that) our leader isn’t able to be here with us, we will wait … for her before having any actually practice matches with the SiegeSlammer. Shelly, if you’re reading this, … (you) better show up (at the meeting). ” They had concluded.

The Daily Squid understands that their leader, a player named Shelly, has been absent for a while now, missing out crucial practice, and even the release of the SiegeSlammer. We at the Daily Squid wish Crescent Moon all the best in their future endeavours, may your leader return soon!

This is the Daily Squid, writing on day to day affairs. For the people, by the people. We will see you tomorrow.

\---

Agent 0 folded the special edition of the news (of which anysquid could get a copy of, anytime) and stuffed it into his coat. He was in Inkopolis square, finally back from the investigation of Kamabo.

After the whole incident with the statue, Pearl and Marina had taken in agent 8 temporarily. Cod knows the poor girl needed time to recover.

The captain, agent 3 and himself had then returned to Kamabo as per the original plan. They had then subdued the organization partially, ensuring that there would no longer be any immediate threat from it.

Oh Cod there was a lot to handle. Kamabo was an absolute nightmare, numerous testing and experimental facilities filled the interior. Honestly, all they had done was neutralize all production facilities, a good month or two was going to be needed to fully shut down the whole facility.

They had returned to the city the day before, with the captain calling for a meeting of all the agents tomorrow (which was today) for an update session. Information had to be exchanged, as well as introductions had to be made.

Which was why now, at an unCodly hour of 3am, 0 was now headed for the grate which would take him to Cuttlefish cabin. The streets were empty, no squid turfing at this time.

Then again, that was probably why the captain had set the meeting time to be as such.

0 slid into the grate, at last, it seemed he would finally meet up with all the other agents. He knew what they were like, of course, but there always had to be official introductions now.

And not just the agents, Sheldon and Off the Hook had been invited at the captain’s (and 8’s) request as well. 0 didn’t see an issue with that, it seemed that they (Off the Hook) had played quite a key role in helping out with the situation in Kamabo. Without Marina’s hyperbombs and Pearl’s Killer-wail, the world might have well ended already. As for Sheldon, well, he always was kind of part of the NSS anyways.

Feeling the familiar sensations of warping through the grate, 0 mentally prepared himself once again for the upcoming meeting. The original plan was only for agents 1, 2 and 3 to know, since they had been serving the longest (and the first 2 agents were effectively the captain’s family).

But now, after everything had been said and done, the number of squids _(Cod, octos as well)_ had more than doubled. 0 exited the grate, re-forming his humanoid shape as he stood up in the Canyon. _Well, whatever._

Just go with the flow, besides, it seemed that secrets didn’t really need to be kept that closely after all. Everyone was able to handle themselves pretty well, nonetheless.

Looking up, 0 saw a bunch of eyes looking straight at him. _What?_

Everysquid (Octo?) was looking at him. Marie, Callie, Agent 3 (despite all his hacking, he couldn’t find out 3’s real name), Shelly (Agent 4), Eight (did she have a name?), Marina, Pearl, Sheldon … and the Captain as well. _What? The meeting was supposed to be at 3am. He was early by 15 minutes._ And yet everysq—everyone was already here.

“Ho. Agent 0, welcome. Sorry, but I had the all the agents come just a tad earlier. Hope you don’t mind.” Captain Cuttlefish stood, a twinkle in his eye gleaming at 0 as he said that. 0 swore that underneath that beard was a shit eating grin. _Since when did the captain have such a personality?_

A hiss below him caught his attention. The grate leading back to the square powered down. He wouldn’t be able to return now. Snapping his gaze back up, 0 caught movement from Marie. _Dammit._

_"..." Not that he ever thought of running. Nope._

Well, he had been had. Truly. 0 allowed a smile to break out across his face. _Ha. He truly had been had this time._

The captain had no doubt pulled this entire stunt to ensure he wouldn’t have second thoughts about the whole thing. Which he had. It was somewhat scary how the captain knew him so well. _Well, dammit. Time to take the L._

He looked up. The group was smiling too. 4 was holding back giggles and flashed him a thumbs up. Callie and Marie were sharing a look. 3 was well, she knew of him since a week ago, when they met and departed for Kamabo. The captain had introduced him to her back then. But she had a smile of encouragement for him too. Welcoming smiles were beamed at him.

 _He … he was welcome here._ No one was pushing him aside into the shadows. The shadows where he thought he belonged all the time.

“Agent 0.” The captain began, this time in a more grandfatherly, gentle voice, “We are all here now. Come join us.”

 _Heh. Dammit. He had been had. Dammit. Heh._ He was smiling again. A genuine smile as tears pricked at the corners of his eyes. 

_He didn’t need to support everyone from the shadows anymore. He could do so side by side, together._ _Heh. Dammit, heh._

0 shook his head to clear his thoughts. It wouldn’t do to keep everyone waiting now.

“Well, then. I suppose I should begin with introductions, then. I am agent 0 of the New Squidbeak Splatoon, though many of you may have already met me in separate instances over the past 3 weeks or so.”

“I had always supported the NSS from the shadows, though now, it seems no longer … necessary. I look forward to working with all of you in the future.”

0 bowed, as a cheer came from the group gathered.

“And us as well!”

And they stood as one, the New Squidbeak Splatoon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "..." damn, I'm getting a little teary eyed myself. So its over, what started out as a 10 chapter fic turned into this this 22 chapters, but now its over.
> 
> So first and foremost, I would like to thank all my readers, lurkers or otherwise, for staying throughout to the end. Even if you are reading this when the fic has already completed, please know that I am thankful to you as well. Literally anysquid who made it to this portion of text, the author thanks thee.
> 
> So for future works, I have a sequel planned. only 10 chapters this time, and fully written finished as well. I should start posting it either together with this chapter, or whenever I'm free. Which may be sometime in the future. But please do keep an eye (or two) out for it.
> 
> I have a collection of ideas for some oneshots as well. though none of them are actually written yet. An example would be where 0 and 4 both attend a 'therapy' session of Marie's... and hilarity ensures. But, this may take a while to be written, and posted. Or maybe never. This author isn't quite sure yet.
> 
> And finally, below are some fun facts about the author and the work in general, if anysquid is interested. The author meant to do an entire chapter on it, but eventually decided against it. Having an epilogue like this as the final chapter seem fitting.
> 
> Once again, the author thanks all who had read this far. Feedback and comments are always appreciated and loved. 
> 
> Until next time,  
> Stay fresh!
> 
> \---
> 
> A general list of fun facts about the work/author in general (may not be in order)
> 
> About the author:  
> 1\. The author is incredibly paranoid.  
> 2\. The author isn't a writer, they are more of an (self taught) artist.  
> 3\. The author never played Splatoon 1 nor Splatoon 2, only coming to know of this game through YouTube recommend.  
> 4\. The author is quite a meme-er, and a tad of a 'weeb', hence the sometime cringe references throughout.  
> 5\. The author's favorite character is agent 8. (despite only writing her POV for 1 chapter)
> 
> About the characters:  
> 6\. Agents 0 and 4 are based of the author. Agent 0 is meant to be a feminine male version of the author, while Agent 4 is meant to be a tom-boy female version of the author. This is why their thoughts are somewhat similar.  
> 7\. Marie's initial depression (about her loss) and her reaction was due to the author experiencing something similar in their past.  
> 8\. Agent 0's was originally meant to be a vampire who lived from the age of humans. He was partially responsible for the extinction of humans. 0 originally was going to be overpowered, with his weakness being his mental state (he was meant to have lost his sister to the humans). This was scrapped due to having 0 be too overpowered, and the idea being to dark.  
> 9\. Agent 0's hero suit has a mask, which covers his face and displays the number '0' in white LEDs, much like agent 3's cape and the number '3'. (he never wears it in this fic)  
> 10\. Marina is slightly smarter than agent 0.
> 
> Misc:  
> 11\. Agent 0 was originally going to be named 'Onxy Black', but the author found it too weird to have the name be the same as the author's pen name. As of currently, 0 doesn't have a name.  
> 12\. This end chapter notes is the only one that the author spell checked.  
> 13\. The author is a huge fan of the Japanese and their culture. (Hence why 0 often bows, and why the author often apologizes. They are genuine)  
> 14\. The work was a dream dreamt by the author. Up to chapter 7 ish~, from which the author developed the remainder of the story.  
> 15\. The concept of Ink Wings and SiegeSlammer were both something the author came up with. In-universe, 0 is somewhat of an inventor.


	23. Agents Bio

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again, I know chapter 22 was meant to be the last chapter, but here's the agent bio anyways.
> 
> So this chapter may be constantly updated as I add new content to it, but for now all theres going to be is a pic on agent 0 and the rest is text.
> 
> Basically this chapter is going to be about my characters in this work, though may eventually contain characters from the sequel work as well, we'll see.
> 
> Right, so the pictures turn out as just a link, idk y. If theres anysquid who can help me with posting of pictures, I would very much appreciate it. I uploaded the picture to tumblr, then put the link in the 'html' code, and this is the result. So yea, if there's anysquid who can help, please do leave a shout! Thanks!
> 
> Right, so for now if you want to see the art, just copy paste the links which should bring you to my tumblr. If not, here's the dashboard link: https://onxyblackme.tumblr.com/
> 
> Do note I am a self taught artist. So my art isn't the best yea. Be nice, please. Thanks.
> 
> Right. And now onto some announcements. 
> 
> 1\. Fragments, the sequel is now up! Do check out my other work and give it some love. Thanks!
> 
> 2\. You can join my telegram group at the link below. Its called 'Onxy Black Beta' but well, even if you are not interested in beta reading, you can just drop by for. Anonymous feedback, or just to chat. Here's the link:  
> https://t.me/joinchat/AAAAAEeAvSkrWvpdYfkcJA  
> (telegram allows you to hide your number) 
> 
> 3\. Finally, specially for you faithful readers who reached this final chapter. You can contact me at +6596491571 for anonymous feedback or to chat ( if telegram is banned in your country). And with that, I plead that you guys and gals don't abuse this by spamming me or entering my number for weird scams. This is simply the author trusting you guys and gals and having several means to reach out to the community. Yea!  
> (and if somehow you already know me, cause well, small world. Erm. Hi. Yes I write Splatoon fanfics.) 
> 
> 4\. Finally, for this chapter it would probably be updated in the future, so do keep an eye out. I would probably add more character bio, such as Off the Hook's, as well as more potential art. If I get the time to draw.
> 
> Yea. That's all. 
> 
> Cheers!

Designation: Agent 0

Complied by: C. Craig.

Name: Black (Adopted)

Gender: Male

Race: Inkling (abilities)

Age: ~~deifissalC~~

Natural colour: Black (with a hint of red)

Preferred weapon: Custom Herobrush

Status: Alive

Relationship(s): Miss Celine (Status unknown), Unknown Parents (Assumed deceased), Agents of NSS

Title: Agent of NSS, Information specialist, Undercover operative

Description: Agent 0, adopted name Black, was recruited as an Agent in the year 167. Found and trained by C.Craig. after the Great turf War. Participated in ~~noitarepO tniopkaeB.~~ Responsible for the construction of the Cuttlefish bunker (Former site Delta). In the year 179, observed the rescue of C.Craig from DJ Octavio. In the year 181, assisted in the rescue of C.Callie from DJ Octavio. In the year 181, assisted with the shutdown of 'Kamabo'.

Notes of interest: Ability to shape-shift tentacles (limited)

Designation: Agent 1

Complied by: C. Craig.

Name: Callie Cuttlefish

Gender: Female

Race: Inkling

Age: 16

Natural colour: Black (with a hint of magenta)

Preferred weapon: Custom Roller

Status: Alive

Relationship(s): Agents of NSS

Title: Agent of NSS, Undercover operative

Description: Agent 1, born name Callie Cuttlefish, was recruited as an Agent in the year 173. Granddaughter to C.Craig. In the year 179, participated in the rescue of C.Craig from DJ Octavio. In the year 181, was squidnapped by DJ Octavio and put under brainwashing influence. Agent 1 was successfully rescued by the efforts of Agent 0, 2 and 4.

Notes of interest: Has been under the influence of brainwashing before.

Designation: Agent 2

Complied by: C. Craig.

Name: Marie Cuttlefish

Gender: Female

Race: Inkling

Age: 16

Natural colour: Grey (with a hint of green)

Preferred weapon: E-Liter 3K

Status: Alive

Relationship(s): Agents of NSS

Title: Agent of NSS, Communications

Description: Agent 2, born name Marie Cuttlefish, was recruited as an Agent in the year 173. Granddaugther to C.Craig. In the year 179, participated in the rescue of C.Craig from DJ Octavio. In the year 181, participated in the rescue of Agent 1 from DJ Octavio.

Notes of interest: NIL

Designation: Agent 3

Complied by: C. Craig.

Name: Three (Adopted)

Gender: Female

Race: Inkling

Age: 16

Natural colour: Orange

Preferred weapon: Heroshot

Status: Alive

Relationship(s): Unknown Parents (Assumed deceased), Agents of NSS

Title: Agent of NSS, Combat specialist, Undercover operative

Description: Agent 3, Adopted name Three, was recruited as an Agent in the year 179. Found and trained by C.Craig after the 1st theft of the Great Zapfish (post Great turf War). In the year 179, lead the rescue of C.Craig from DJ Octavio. In the year 181, participated in the investigation of 'Kamabo', assisted in escape of area. Agent 3 was under the influence of brainwashing for a period in 'Kamabo', was successfully freed by the efforts of Agent 8. In the year 181, assisted with the shutdown of 'Kamabo'.

Notes of interest: Has been under the influence of brainwashing before.

Designation: Agent 4

Complied by: C. Marie, Agent 0

Name: Shelly Tidefall

Gender: Female

Race: Inkling

Age: 14

Natural colour: Yellow

Preferred weapon: Dualies (any type)

Status: Alive

Relationship(s): Unknown Parents (Status unknown), Agents of NSS, Crescent Moon (ranked team)

Title: Agent of NSS

Description: Agent 4, born name Shelly Tidefall, was recruited as an Agent in the year 181. Found by Agent 0, and trained by C.Marie after the 2nd theft of the Great Zapfish (post Great turf War). In the year 181, lead the rescue of C.Callie from DJ Octavio.

Notes of interest: NIL

Designation: Agent 8

Complied by: C. Craig.

Name: Eight (Adopted)

Gender: Female

Race: Octoling

Age: 18 (estimated) 

Natural colour: Pink

Preferred weapon: Charger (temp.)

Status: Alive

Relationship(s): Unknown Parents (Assumed deceased), Agents of NSS, Off the Hook (Pearl Hozuki and Marina Ida)

Title: Agent of NSS

Description: Agent 8, adopted name Eight, was recruited as an Agent in the year 181. Found and trained by C.Craig in the 'DeepSea Metro'. Was able to pass all 80 tests with the help of Off the Hook (Pearl Hozuki and Marina Ida). In the year 181, defeated and freed Agent 3 from brainwashed state. In the year 181, lead the escape from 'Kamabo'.

Notes of interest: Has been under the influence of brainwashing before.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Urggg... 
> 
> Right so I just realized that... Other than 0, my characters are all female.
> 
> Erm. I'm not sexist. I'm really not, and I don't want to come of as such. Sorry, it kinda just happened. Thinking back, I guess it's cause I've been influenced by the general media and fics I read previously? Wherein the agents are all portrayed as females.
> 
> Right. Anyways they are now. But I just want to say I don't discriminate against the male or female sex in any way, yea?
> 
> Haha I do hope I didn't offend any squid. I assure you that while the characters may be of the same sex, their personality are any but similar. Each character will have their own moments and charm to them. I hope. 
> 
> Ha. 
> 
> Until next time,  
> Stay Fresh!

**Author's Note:**

> So while I'm posting this as more of a test run for writing (I never written anything like this before), I would appreciate feedback, I mean, if anyone's even reading that's it.  
> Just, please, don't be toxic yeaaaa.


End file.
